Demanding the immediate release of Armenian citizens illegally held in Azerbaijan, members of the pan-Armenian "Freedom to Armenian Prisoners of War" assembled outside the National Assembly in Yerevan today.

The gathering is part of an initiative in the diaspora that will stage similar protests in some thirty cities throughout the world including Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, New York, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Geneva and Marseilles.

 A statement, calling on local governments and human rights organizations to push for the release of Armenians now detained by Azerbaijan, will be read at each gathering.

The Yerevan protesters plan to march to the embassies of Greece, China, Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Russia and the U.S. in the Armenian capital and hope to deliver letters to embassy officials detailing Azerbaijani mistreatment of Armenian POWs and civilians, a clear violation of the Geneva Convention.