Families not informed about prisoner returns from Azerbaijan, activist says

Armenian human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan has criticized authorities for failing to inform families of prisoners returned from Azerbaijan, saying most relatives learned of their loved ones’ release through media and unofficial sources.

In a social media post on Thursday, Aleksanyan suggested the government may have intended the returns as a pre-election achievement, but the effect was undermined by reports of record bonuses received by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which “shocked the public”, while the prisoner releases elicited only muted public joy.