The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered its judgment in the case of H.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan, concerning an Armenian serviceman who, according to the applicants, was beheaded by Azerbaijani soldiers during the April 2016 hostilities.

The respondent state, Azerbaijan, has been ordered to pay compensation within three months.

According to the ECHR, the case concerns allegations by an Armenian family that their son and brother, serviceman H.T., was tortured and beheaded during military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia in April 2016 in territories that were then under the control of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Panorama.am reported.

A ceasefire was established on April 5, 2016, four days after the fighting began. Following the truce, the bodies of fallen servicemen from both sides of the conflict were recovered. Reports indicated that some bodies were returned mutilated, missing heads, hands or earlobes. Twenty-one similar applications remain pending before the Court.

The applicants in the case, V.T., L.V. and A.G., are H.T.’s parents and sister. H.T. served as a major in the armed forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. His body was discovered near the village of Talish, close to the line of contact between Azerbaijani forces and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

According to the investigation conducted by the local authorities and the findings of an Armenian forensic expert, H.T. was seriously wounded during an attack on his military truck. His hands were allegedly severed while he was still alive, after which he was beheaded.

Invoking Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to life, the applicants argued that H.T. had already been rendered hors de combat and was no longer capable of fighting when he came under Azerbaijani control, making his killing and the mutilation of his body unlawful and unjustified.

The applicants also relied on Article 3, prohibiting torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, and Article 8, protecting private and family life. They argued that H.T. had been tortured before his death and that the family was unable to recover all parts of his body and conduct a full burial, causing severe emotional suffering. They additionally invoked Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention.

The ECHR found violations of:

• Article 2 (right to life);
• Article 3 in relation to the torture inflicted on H.T.;
• Article 3 in relation to the personal suffering endured by the applicants.

The Court also ruled on just satisfaction, ordering Azerbaijan to pay the following sums within three months of the judgment becoming final:

• €60,000 in non-pecuniary damages jointly to the first two applicants;
• €30,000 in non-pecuniary damages to the third applicant;
• €14,210 for legal and other expenses.

Anna Melikyan, a legal expert with the NGO Rights Protection Without Borders, commented on the ruling, saying:

“Finally, after 10 years, the ECHR has delivered a judgment in the case of one of the Armenian servicemen killed and beheaded during the April War.”

According to her, the Court found violations of the right to life, concluding that Azerbaijani forces killed a wounded Armenian serviceman who was already hors de combat. The Court also recognized the family’s suffering after learning of the beheading and death, as well as the impossibility of conducting a proper burial, as degrading treatment.

Melikyan noted that the Armenian government did not file an interstate complaint in these cases and that the litigation was pursued by a group of human rights lawyers, including Ara Ghazaryan, Haykuhi Harutyunyan, Hasmik Harutyunyan and Araks Melkonyan.