Azerbaijan Attempts to Create Legal Grounds for Delaying the Return of Armenian Prisoners of War: Sahakyan

Azerbaijan is attempting to create legal grounds for delaying the return of Armenian prisoners of war by initiating criminal cases against them. This was stated by human rights defender Siranush Sahakyan, the representative of prisoners' rights at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), during an interview with Sputnik Armenia, commenting on Azerbaijan's announcements regarding the criminal cases initiated against Armenian captives.

“For any conflicting party, there is an obligation to immediately repatriate persons captured and currently deprived of freedom. If they refuse to repatriate them immediately, then the international classification is a war crime. Azerbaijan does not wish to resolve this issue for political reasons and is creating artificial grounds,” Sahakyan said. She noted that on one hand Azerbaijan denies the blatant cases of captivity for which there is ample evidence, while on the other hand it is artificially assigning a different legal status to Armenian prisoners of war, excluding their immediate return.

For instance, Azerbaijan has charged 62 servicemen captured in Khtsaberd with terrorism. According to Sahakyan, in addition to this aim, Azerbaijan is pursuing another goal with this move: to intimidate Armenians from serving in military service in areas that Azerbaijan considers its own.

Azerbaijan accuses Armenian prisoners of torturing Azerbaijani captives during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, including alleged participation in the events of Khojalu.

Sahakyan found it difficult to specify how many Armenian prisoners currently in Azerbaijan are facing criminal cases, noting that not all cases reported in the Azerbaijani press are subsequently communicated officially to international bodies by that country’s authorities.

“At this moment, only the cases from Khtsaberd and one other case have been presented to international bodies. Overall, there are 63 cases,” Sahakyan said.

According to the human rights defender, if Azerbaijan attempts to formalize these theses, it will take at least 1-2 years to resolve the issue of returning Armenian prisoners. In such a situation, Armenia must try to refute the theses presented by Azerbaijan through the European Court of Human Rights and show that what is actually being discussed are illegal arrests, detentions, and sentences. In this case, the ECHR will demand Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian prisoners and will affirm their status as prisoners of war.

The other platform to prevent Azerbaijan's illegal intentions is the international diplomatic platform. According to Sahakyan, as a result of proper diplomatic efforts, it is possible to achieve condemnation from the international community and even the imposition of sanctions against Azerbaijan.

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