Azerbaijan has returned 4 captives to Armenia: Davit Davtyan, Gevorg Sujyan, Vigen Euljekjian, and Vagif Khachatryan.
According to the National Security Service, after the 44-day war of 2020, Azerbaijan returned the first captive during the war on October 28, 2020. The last time Azerbaijan returned 32 captives to Armenia was in December 2023.
Sargis Khandanyan, a deputy of the National Assembly’s Communist Party faction and chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, said in an interview with Radar Armenia: “We have not had any captives returned for more than two years. The last major return was in December 2023, when captives returned in large groups.”
According to him, during this time, the issue of captives has been a constant topic in the domestic political arena. “Both the Armenian government and we, the parliamentarians, the representatives of the ruling power, have been criticized by the opposition, claiming that nothing is being done about the issue of the prisoners.”
Sargis Khandanyan assures: “They were not returned in exchange for anything. The return occurred as a result of negotiations and at Azerbaijan’s discretion. This is a result of the peace and relative stability established in the region.”
