Around 10 Women May Be Captured on Azerbaijani Side: Siranush Sahakyan

Around 10 women may be captured on the Azerbaijani side. Siranush Sahakyan, a member of the legal group dealing with the rights of Armenians captured by Azerbaijan, stated this in an interview with ArmDaily.am.

She informed that currently there are 5 civilian women who have been captured but have since been returned, while there are still women who remain on the Azerbaijani side. “The case presented to the European Court of Human Rights by Lebanese-Armenian Maral Najaryan is being addressed by the office of the government’s authorized representative. Nevertheless, we have no doubt that these women are also subjected to violence, as violence is massive, systematic, and cannot be an exception; inhumane treatment is also a factor, and the current status of these women can be addressed by the authorized representative,” she emphasized.

She highlighted that applications have been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights regarding all known captives, and the lives and physical integrity of all are under protection. “The issue is how problems arise in practice and how the European Court will respond to Azerbaijan's dishonesty in the future, but at least in the legal processes, their life and physical integrity are protected. Regarding their return, the number of Armenian captives subject to return exceeds 100, and there simply needs to be respect for mutual agreements and good faith for the issue to be resolved. The Armenian side's problems are either not raised or, if they are raised, they do not receive approval from the other party in negotiations, resulting in them remaining open issues. All this should be viewed in the context of political processes; if there are disagreements and obligations towards Armenia are being violated, and Armenia is being forced into new obligations, yet our foreign policy officials remain silent and treat this as normal, we cannot expect positive progress here.”