Information about Torture of 17 Repatriated Soldiers Not True, Investigative Committee States

On October 4, 2022, in response to queries regarding the torture of 17 servicemen repatriated from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Armenia, the spokesperson for the RA Investigative Committee provided clarifications to civic.am that necessitated corrections in several areas.

The Investigative Committee mentioned that regarding this matter, ongoing investigations and procedural actions are being conducted at the Military Investigative Department, particularly interviews have been conducted, samples have been collected for appointing examinations, and forensic medical and other examinations have been ordered. The servicemen were presented to the RA Ministry of Health’s “Scientific-Practical Center for Forensic Medicine” for expertise.

Interrogations involving the returned prisoners are still ongoing, thus, as of October 5, 2022, the body conducting the criminal proceedings could not provide information about the results of the unfinished investigative actions, according to the spokesperson for the Investigative Committee, Vardan Tadevosyan.

This implies that the official of the Investigative Committee could not definitively confirm the absence of torture of the Armenian servicemen in their response, and the information published is a result of a misinterpretation of the questions and answers during a brief telephone interview. The spokesperson merely aimed to convey that they did not possess information regarding incidents of torture.

Despite all this, we find it necessary to state that the published information regarding the servicemen not having sustained severe injuries or being tortured is not accurate.

It is worth noting that on October 4, the RA Ministry of Defense announced that the Azerbaijani side, through US mediation, had returned 17 Armenian prisoners of war to the Armenian side.