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The number of Armenian prisoners of war captured as a result of the aggression of the Azerbaijani side on September 13 is about 20, but the fact-finding is not yet finished, and the confirmations are in progress. Lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, the representative of the Armenian detainees’ interests at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this.

She noted that there are already confirmed cases of being captured, but the exact number can be discussed later.

Reflecting on the fact that on Thursday, Azerbaijan was supposed to respond to the ECHR regarding the issue of Armenian prisoners of war, but there is no information about it, Sahakyan said that this response should have been addressed to the Armenian government—and within the framework of the interstate complaint.

"Regarding individual cases, I can say that we have received correspondence from the court, Azerbaijan's positions have not been sent to us yet, but we are waiting for information in the coming days. There is a response from the court that these requests are addressed to the government of Azerbaijan and a deadline is given for providing information. Against the background of these inquiries, Azerbaijan has already confirmed—through the Red Cross—the circumstance of the capture of a number of persons," the lawyer said.

According to her, in the case of the actions of the authorities of Baku, the Armenian side has had many cases when even the video of the capture was not confirmed, even in group cases.

"If there are a lot of evidences, under the pressure of these evidences, it is more likely to see to it that the authorities of Azerbaijan also will confirm the case," the attorney said.

Commenting on the case of Davit Gishyan, an Armenian soldier who was killed recently in Azerbaijani captivity, Siranush Sahakyan emphasized that in such cases, the Armenian side immediately informs the courts, also explaining how important the active engagement of international organizations is to organize the return of the captives as soon as possible.

"The issue of violation of the right to life should be raised. Killing a captive is a war crime, and there should be a more far-reaching goal; that is, to achieve the criminal accountability of the Azerbaijani servicemen and commanders responsible for this incident. If Azerbaijan is not interested in the matter of punishing its murderers, then the international organizations should think about imposing sanctions on Azerbaijan," the lawyer said.

When asked whether the Red Cross has visited Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku and what the respective practice is, Sahakyan said that in the case of confirmed prisoners of war, the Red Cross is permitted to meet and see them, and ensure contact with their family members.

"As to when they enter, the permission of the Azerbaijani authorities is important here. In the war of 2020, the [Armenian] prisoners of war did not have the opportunity to see the representatives of the Red Cross for quite a long time. Not ensuring contact with the outside world aims to hide the traces of violence, too," the attorney noted.

When asked about the effective options for the return of captives, Siranush Sahakyan said that the negotiations of the leaders of the countries could be more effective.

"The negotiating platform should have been able to immediately resolve the issue of the return of detainees. If the parties are able to reach an agreement on the main issue, as a rule, the return of detainees should not pose any difficulties at all. In this case, the negotiation process has failed. The Armenian side meets disproportionate political demands in favor of Azerbaijan, which threaten even the statehood of Armenia. The negotiating side has politicized also the issue of prisoners of war. This issue is not being discussed independently, but it has been linked to the political agenda, and Azerbaijan is keeping hostages with the knowledge of the Armenian side. The Armenian side should have been able to reposition itself in the negotiation process, the probability of which is small, and secondly, to take the path of judicial protection, which is time-consuming," the lawyer said.

She noted that Armenia can to petition to the international courts against Azerbaijan under the Hostages Convention.

"It will ensure a faster response to the matter of our detainees. At the moment, Armenia has not addressed with this matter and has included the matter of detainees under the matters of the Discrimination Convention. I believe it would have been more effective for Armenia to separate this matter and separately, on the basis of Hostage, also have an interstate lawsuit at the UN Court of Justice," the lawyer said.

And when asked about the problems the Armenian side faces regarding the identification of the detainees, Siranush Sahakyan responded: "The problem is the quality of the videos, the visibility of the faces of the people in those videos, and, also, Azerbaijan circulates videos from other conflicts, or videos made in earlier times, in which case, if professional work is not done, there is an identification error. If the videos are of high quality and it is possible, for example, to check the place where the video was taken, the boys have visibility, we combine several circumstances, talk with experts, then errors are excluded in the case of identification."

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