Le Monde Highlights Torture of Armenian Prisoners: 'Hands Tied to Feet and Hanged Until Unconsciousness'

“Several dozen prisoners remain in Azerbaijan’s custody, which refuses to release them, categorizing them as 'terrorists.' However, three of them have been released,” writes Le Monde correspondent Faustine Vincent.

“Seventy-one-year-old Armenian retiree Sasha Karakhanian and his 44-year-old son Arsen, who went to the front as volunteers, were captured and taken to the central square of Hadrut. 'My father saw several people having their throats cut, and then he was brutally beaten — kicked in the back, neck, and head,' recounts Sasha Karakhanian’s daughter, Marina, who lives in Stepanakert.

Marina recounted that they had broken her father's thighs and subsequently injured his hand; after that, they tied his hand to his feet and hung him in that condition until he lost consciousness. 'When he regained consciousness, he saw that he was in Baku with five other prisoners. There was no news of his son. It took two months before the ICRC could visit him. After that, on December 14, the man was released and sent to Yerevan along with 43 other military and civilian prisoners.'

On the same day, twelve Azerbaijani prisoners of war who had been captured during the war returned from Armenia. The exchange was conducted under the terms of the ceasefire established by the November 9, 2020 agreement that marked Armenia's surrender, which stipulated a prisoner exchange 'everyone for everyone.' Arsen Karakhanian reappeared in the spotlight on January 6, in a TikTok video, where Azerbaijani soldiers demanded that he declare 'Farewell Shushi,' 'Karabakh is Azerbaijani,' 'Azerbaijan is better,' and 'Pashinyan is a bastard.'

When, twelve days later, the Ministry of Emergency Situations called and asked her to go and identify her brother’s body, Marina replied that 'Azerbaijanis cannot be trusted,' as an employee told her. On a metal table, she saw her brother’s mutilated body. Now, Arsen Karakhanian's case is one of the 264 cases submitted to the European Court of Human Rights. 'One person is tortured and sent home, and another is tortured and killed — for what purpose?' laments Marina.