In September 2020, Azerbaijan attacked the self-declared ethnic Armenian enclave in Nagorno-Karabakh. When the guns fell silent, Azerbaijan held several hundred Armenian POWs, only some of whom they released in accordance with Baku’s ceasefire obligations. Subsequently, some videos surfaced showing Azerbaijani forces summarily executing some POWs; other videos show torture.

Russia, the United States, and the European Parliament have all officially demanded Azerbaijan release the POWs.