“Without punishment, we will not achieve justice,” Siranuysh Sahakyan, a human rights activist representing the interests of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan at the European Court of Human Rights noted during the international conference on “Human Rights and Accountability: After the War” at the American University of Armenia referring to the issue of Azerbaijan’s responsibility for committing war crimes. Speaking about the right of reparation, she stated that the states have an obligation to tell the truth to the families, showing the related facts related to the violation of human rights. The human rights activist noted that unfortunately they do not see any steps taken by Azerbaijan to fulfill its international obligations and detailed, “Before the International Court of Justice, they are pursuing a policy of denial. Although there is strong evidence, they still pursue a policy of denial.”
She showed two videos in which Armenian soldiers were abducted and said, “These two videos were transferred to Azerbaijan through the European Court under individual applications. These videos have been checked. We were able to find out the identity of the victims. We learned about this from the families, and we know the area where this happened. We have victims who are alive, who managed to survive, and who were not taken prisoner. We also have prisoners of war who were returned from the same group who told us the details. These videos were provided as evidence to show that these two Armenian soldiers were abducted. They are now considered missing because Azerbaijan does not officially accept their arrest and refuses to provide any information.
The Government of Azerbaijan provided a written answer to the European Court. First, they show that some investigation has taken place in Azerbaijan, for example, these videos have been passed to the relevant departments, units of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, have been shown to the military, but no military has identified who is in the video. They took testimonies and finally say that it is impossible to identify them, so there is no evidence that these people are abducted and kept in Azerbaijan. They say that this spread was not feasible. These are examples of how the state does not conduct an investigation, and does not present the truth to families.”
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The human rights activist noted that Azerbaijan is also trying to gain psychological dominance over Armenians. She said that Armenia, for example, tried to put pressure on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in the case of Gurgen Margaryan, who was axed to death. Siranuysh Sahakyan said, “We put pressure on a street in Baku to be named after Gurgen Margaryan as a way to compensate for our moral damage. But they refused. We need resources to achieve the results we need in the Committee of Ministers. It is necessary to carry out diplomatic work in order to be able to provide appropriate means for obtaining satisfaction. I suggest that we move from legal proceedings to political and diplomatic proceedings in order to be able to receive the compensation for the moral damage that has been inflicted on the dignity of Armenians.”
In response to questions, Siranuysh Sahakyan mentioned that even in the case of Armenian prisoners of war who returned to Armenia, revenge is a big risk and clarified, “The only risk is diligence. There are still Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, we can not ensure their security. If we raise issues of persecution, Azerbaijan can take revenge on our prisoners of war and torture them. We can act safely when they return to Armenia. Even those in Armenia are still afraid of revenge. We know that the special services of Azerbaijan can enter Armenia directly or indirectly, pose threats to the prisoners, their families, and meet them in Armenia.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
