Still 100s Armenian hostages held illegally in Azerbaijan

Petition updateRELEASE ALL Armenian POWs and HOSTAGES held illegally in AzerbaijanStill 100s Armenian hostages held illegally in Azerbaijan

BritishArmenian.org

Nov 12, 2021

Dear supporter,

Thank you for continuing to share and promote our campaign.

British-Armenian is an independent, non-governmental group of ordinary citizens, with no political affiliation and zero funding from any business, think tank or political forces. We have been campaigning for the release of all Armenian hostages for over a year via letters and e-mails, peaceful protests, meetings with decision makers and other ways to highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis of Armenian hostages mistreated or murdered in captivity.

To continue our fight for the rights of Armenian captives, public support and donations are vital. We have opened an official fundraiser for this purpose, and highly encourage you to donate whether £1, £5 or more: https://bit.ly/3D2gPBK

If you are unable to donate, consider sharing the donation and petition links with others.

Thank you for your generosity!

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Let us begin with some long-awaited good news. On October 6, senior lieutenant Artur Davidyan, who accidentally crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on August 22, 2021, was repatriated to Armenia. According to the Defense Ministry, Davidyan left his permanent post on August 22, after which all contact was lost with him. According to preliminary information, Davityan was lost and appeared in Azerbaijan due to poor visibility in the mountains [1].

On November 4, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Azerbaijan has violated the rights of two Armenian citizens to life and has obliged the country to pay 40,000 euros in each case. The case of Petrosyan v. Azerbaijan concerns the death of the applicant’s son while in Azerbaijani captivity. The case of Khojoyan and Vardanyan v. Azerbaijan concerns the captivity and treatment of the applicants’ father in Azerbaijan [2].

Since our last update, a plane carrying five Armenian prisoners of war, who were being held captive in Azerbaijan, namely Mels Ambardanyan, Rafik Karapetyan, Zhora Manukyan, Sedrak Soghomonyan and Hovsep Manukyan, landed in Yerevan’s Erebuni Airport on October 19. Soghomonyan, Ambardanyan and Karapetyan were among 10 POWs who received a six-year prison sentence by a Baku court on July 23. Zhora Manukyan, along with 12 other POWs, received a similar sentence on July 22, while Hovsep Manukyan was sentenced on July 29 along with 11 other POWs [3].

One year since the Ceasefire Agreement of November 9, 2020, that stopped the military action in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan has returned 115 prisoners - both servicemen and civilians. According to the data published by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia on October 4, the location of 231 servicemen and 22 civilians is unknown [4]. Baku has repeatedly stated that it has returned all the prisoners, calling the remaining citizens held in Azerbaijani prisons "terrorists”. At least 39 Armenian captives have been tortured to death by the Azerbaijani regime, according to human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, representing dozens of hostages the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Among them was Armenian prisoner of war Gagik Mkrtchyan, aged 19, whose body was returned to Armenia decapitated and covered with harrowing wounds [5].

Since the last public trial of Armenian captives on August 2, no further investigations or trials were made public or shared by the media by Azerbaijani authorities. We are aware that several appeals had been filed in the past month by Armenian captives who refused their long sentences by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes. Armenian hostages are not allowed proper legal representation, conversations, and communication with their families about their cases.

As the state of Azerbaijan remains unpunished by the global community for its disregard of international law, the Azerbaijani military continues capturing new Armenian hostages, currently from the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, as well as killing unarmed civilians. As recently as on November 8, Azerbaijan forces opened fire on workers of the Artsakh Water and Sewage Service who were repairing a damaged water pipe near the road leading to Shushi, killing one civilian and injuring three others [6]. It is worth noting that the incident took place on the eve of the first anniversary of the signing of the Trilateral Agreement and on the day of the visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Shushi.

As a reminder, the continuous capture, torture and persecution of prisoners of war and civilian captive are grave violations of Article 8 of the abovementioned Agreement, as well as the Third Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war of 1949.

With this petition nearly reaching 34.000 signatures, we demand from the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, decision makers of the United Nations and the Council of Europe to:

· ensure the release of all civilian captives and POWs held illegally by the Azerbaijani authorities;

· ensure the urgent access of international bodies, including the Red Cross, to all Armenian POWs to supply their families with full accounts on their health and detention conditions;

· verify the number of Armenian POWs and captives by providing access to the full list of all detainees (alive or dead);

· condemn Aliyev’s regime for continuous contempt of international laws and obligations of the United Nations member states.

With news rarely featuring stories about the ongoing POW crisis, we consider it our duty to never cease our updates about them. Our mission is not yet fulfilled; we are not stopping #UntilTheyAreHome

Thank you for signing and sharing this petition!

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British Armenian humanitarian group

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[1] https://www.civilnet.am/news/635273/one-armenian-captive-returns-from-azerbaijan/?lang=en

[2] https://asbarez.com/azerbaijan-violated-armenian-captives-right-to-life-rules-european-court/

[3] https://asbarez.com/five-pows-return-from-azerbaijani-captivity/