ECHR will be informed about murder of Armenian POW in Azerbaijan - lawyer

PanARMENIAN.Net - The representative of Armenia before the ECHR, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, has said there is information about the killing of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan.

In an interview with the Public Television of Armenia, Kirakosyan stressed that the Armenian side in its complaints to the the ECHR draws the attention of the court on the fact that the lives of the Armenians captured in Azerbaijan are in danger. Therefore, the country asks the European Court to apply interim measures against Azerbaijan, namely, to demand information on the state of health and conditions of detention of Armenian captives in that country.

"One of the dead Armenians, whose body was recovered recently, was on the list [of Armenian prisoners of war], for whom the ECHR had applied an interim measure in early January. According to the forensic examination, he was killed recently," Kirakosyan said.

According to him, this is a "very regrettable phenomenon", an unprecedented and gross violation of the Human Rights Convention by Azerbaijan.

The lawyer said Armenia has submitted many statements to the ECHR, demanding the use of urgent measures against Azerbaijan in order to ensure the absence of encroachments against them and guarantee their rights.

"Unfortunately, Azerbaijan disrespects the ECHR, the conventions on human rights, which is unprecedented for the Council of Europe member states. The violation by Azerbaijan of the terms for submitting information and its scarcity testify to the disrespectful attitude," Kirakosyan stressed.

He added that the case concerning Azerbaijan could be transferred to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. "This could benefit the Armenian side because the interest in the problem under consideration would increase, the format of the discussion would become more open, because all the CoE member states are represented there," the lawyer explained, adding that the Committee of Ministers is not a judicial, but a political body.

The first batch of 44 Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan in mid-December, although Armenian officials said many more people were being held in Baku. Dozens of others, both servicemen and civilians, have been captured after the completion of military hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in one of his speeches that the newly detained persons are not prisoners of war but “terrorists”. Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has said, meanwhile, that at least 120 Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijan. Sahakyan represents the rights of some of the Karabakh POWs before the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyer said there is enough evidence proving the capture of said persons, which the Armenian side will submit to international agencies and courts.