The European Court of Human Rights is investigating the case of six servicemen captured and killed in Azerbaijan as a result of the 44-day war. Despite the evidence of the captivity of these people by the Armenian side, Baku has violated their right to life, the rulings of the European Court against Azerbaijan.
Siranush Sahakyan (Representative of the prisoners in the ECHR) - We have information that they were alive during the captivity in Azerbaijan, later either as a result of search operations, or as a result of the exchange of bodies they came under the control of the Armenian side, there is a DNA match.
One of the six is the murder of 18-year-old Erik Mkhitaryan. The Advocacy Group in all cases applied to the ECHR immediately after obtaining evidence and testimony of the captivity. The court took immediate measures to protect the lives of prisoners of war and the right to physical immunity. Later, however, the bodies of the servicemen were found.
Siranush Sahakyan - In some cases, it has been confirmed that the incident took place earlier than the video was spread on the Internet, but there are cases when the death occurred later, i.e. the life of a person under the protection of the court was violated. Both situations are possible. In the first case, it turns out that people were already killed at the time of the video circulation.
Following the substantiation of the murder, the Armenian side changed the complaint submitted to the European Court, making the violation of the right to life a subject of investigation. According to Sahakyan, there is no probative issue in these six cases, they are waiting for the court rulings. Additional responsibility will arise for Baku if it turns out that the killings took place after an act of the European Court of Human Rights, that is, Azerbaijan ignored the ruling of the international court.
Siranush Sahakyan - Killing a captive is a war crime. Azerbaijan has an obligation to identify and prosecute these individuals. We also raise the issue of impunity legally, that the facts of the murder are known to the Azerbaijani authorities, but they refuse to punish the perpetrators.
Despite the clear evidence, Azerbaijan does not accept the capture of a group of people. They are considered to be forcibly disappeared: 47 such cases were submitted to the ECHR. According to Sahakyan, it is expected that it will be possible to find out through the court whether the people are captives or dead. During contacts at the ECHR on the issue of prisoners, Azerbaijan presented false information to Strasbourg, showing that the conditions of detention allegedly met international standards.
Siranush Sahakyan - The goal is to further manipulate the lawsuits through falsification. There are some videos in which Armenian boys are identified, even in this case, when there is a video, when he is not repatriated, they hypothesize that he is Azerbaijani in Armenian clothes. Imagine far-reaching plans for their defense.
As for the 38 people detained in Azerbaijan, there is not a security problem with them and Sahakyan does not rule out that they will be repatriated before the court rulings.
