“Azerbaijan has disseminated the interview of the Armenian soldier Hakob Injighulyan captive in Azerbaijan under the subtitle “Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict”, which already speaks about extremely impermissible, politicization of the issue of humanitarian rights,”- assures Larisa Alaverdyan, the first human rights defender, Executive Director of “Against Illegal Arbitrariness” NGO.
According to her assessment, the very beginning of the interview shows that questions directed to the captive are asked, and the reportage conclusion was just about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. “It proves that the fate of a specific man is tied to the Armenian-Azerbaijani general problem interpreted by the Azerbaijani side. Pursuant to the Human Rights and the Geneva Convention, Article 13, Chapter 2, a flagrant violence was displayed against the military captive, including asking questions other than the full name, place of birth and how he ended up there. The rest of the questions violate the provisions stipulated by the Convention. If we take what topics are discussed in this reportage, besides being a false politicization, it pursues purely propaganda purposes. We have stated all of these in our letter that we are going to send to international, various inter-governmental organizations.”
As per Ms. Alaverdyan, prisoner’s claims that he feels good in the Azerbaijani uniforms and wishes to leave for a 3rd country indicates about various types of pressures: psychological, and physical, and even it is possible that the evidences obtained are as a result of promises.
She complained that no international organization has yet responded to the incident. “We find it more than strange the silence of the organizations that for years, every day, are watching the human rights defense situation in the region. Whereas it was a flagrant violation, and still I have not seen any organization responding. If the mode of action of the Red Cross is clear for us, because even if they comment or state in the report, it would be confidential, then it is not clear the silence of the organizations that are always talking publicly. In fact, it required 10 days from Azerbaijan to develop psychological, so-called brain washing, afterwards the interview was voiced. The revelation of this interview is the result of unbalanced attitude and conduct of the Red Cross Baku delegation.”
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As per Ms. Alaverdyan, this video disseminated by Azerbaijani side was a message to its own people and the whole world, saying that “Nothing is impossible for nowadays Azerbaijani authorities, we’ll say whatever we would like to, if we wish to violate, we’ll do it, if we wish to ignore, we’ll do it, if we wish to abuse an international norm and commitment before the international community, we’ll do it.”
Referring to the criticism conducted in Armenia with regard to the Armenian soldier why he gave such an interview, the first human rights defender called for displaying restraint. “There was a time, when such incidents were occurring again, the head of the Azerbaijani National Security Service (NSS) once called the head of Artsakh National Security Service chief, and said, “Hurry up, turn on the TV set, look how your guys are talking about you, the army and your country”. The head of the Artsakh NSS said, “To force a person in detention and captivity to say something, it’s not good, nor is it so difficult”. I urge not to give estimations to a person who is in extreme critical condition and we do not know how these interviews are taking place. Let us allow this to finish so that this soldier stays healthy, reaches his parents, and then we will determine what is what. Without any exceptions, such interviews are taking place under incomprehensible, but terrible pressures for us.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
