Despite the urgent interim measure applied by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Republic of Azerbaijan has failed to comply with the Court’s binding decision. Consequently, the whereabouts, state of health, and conditions of detention of ethnic Armenian Karen Avanesyan remain unknown to this day, while he has been sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment without any credible information regarding the assurance of a fair trial or other fundamental rights during the proceedings conducted against him.
Within the framework of the urgent interim measure applied by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Government of Azerbaijan was obliged to ensure the protection of Karen Avanesyan’s physical and mental health, to provide the Court and his representatives with information regarding his whereabouts and state of health, as well as to ensure his unimpeded contact with relatives and legal representatives. However, these obligations have not been fulfilled to date, which significantly hinders the effective conduct of the proceedings pending before the ECHR and gives rise to serious concerns regarding risks to his life and security.
The situation regarding Karen Avanesyan’s case arose after Azerbaijani media, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, reported his arrest in the occupied city of Stepanakert on September 14, 2025. According to the mentioned sources, Avanesyan was arrested at the moment when he allegedly attempted to approach the venue of an event being held in Stepanakert while armed, and during the arrest, he displayed armed resistance, as a result of which he sustained a gunshot wound from return fire. Videos were disseminated alongside the same information, showing Karen Avanesyan with a gunshot wound and bleeding, lying on the ground.
Taking into account the real risk of irreparable harm to his life and fundamental rights, on September 17, 2025, lawyers Ara Ghazaryan and Anastasia Makaryan, based on the power of attorney from the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan, Artsakh Union, and other relevant persons, submitted a request to the European Court of Human Rights to apply an urgent interim measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. On September 18, 2025, the ECHR communicated the request to the Government of Azerbaijan, obligating the latter to immediately provide the requested information.
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Subsequently, on October 20, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights fully granted the request for the application of an interim measure, obligating the Republic of Azerbaijan to take specific measures to ensure Karen Avanesyan’s physical and mental health, to submit regular information to the Court regarding these measures, and to ensure his contact with relatives and representatives.
However, since the adoption of said decision, the Government of Azerbaijan has not executed the ECHR decision on applying the urgent measure.Over the course of more than two months, Karen Avanesyan has not established contact with his representatives or relatives in any manner, while the limited information submitted regarding his state of health and conditions of detention has lacked credibility.
At the same time, on October 16, 2025, a full application regarding Karen Avanesyan’s case was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, the examination of which is currently ongoing.
Despite the aforementioned circumstances and the obvious non-compliance with the binding decision of the international court, on December 25, 2025, the Ganja Court on Grave Crimes of the Republic of Azerbaijan sentenced Karen Avanesyan to 16 years of imprisonment. No information regarding the conviction was provided to his representatives or the ECHR; likewise, data regarding the criminal case initiated against him, the scope of the charges, and the course of the trial is absent.
Moreover, information regarding said trial is available exclusively from limited sources circulating in the Azerbaijani press. There is no credible and verifiable information available regarding the legal grounds of the trial, the factual circumstances of the case, as well as the assurance of guarantees for Karen Avanesyan’s procedural rights and the right to a fair trial. Under these conditions, the urgent interim measure applied by the European Court of Human Rights continues to be unimplemented by the Azerbaijani authorities.
Artsakh Union