News - What legal steps are being taken to return the Armenians being held in Azerbaijan?

In his statement last week, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, called on Azerbaijan to respect the due process regarding the situation with respect to the Armenian detainees from Nagorno-Karabakh, the fundamental principles of the protection of detainees, and also expressed his belief that the release and repatriation of Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan will help to the overall peace process. At the same time, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Azerbaijan to adhere to the international obligations of human rights and immediately release all those unjustly arrested. Armenian News-NEWS.am continues its series of interviews with international law specialists, human rights advocates, and experts dealing with human rights issues, in order to find out what needs to be done and what mechanisms exist for the 23 Armenian captives illegally being held in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, including to protect the rights of the military and political leadership of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), to prevent torture against them, and to ensure their return. This time we talked with international law specialist, lawyer Ara Ghazaryan. -Mr. Ghazaryan, [Artsakh ex-state minister] Ruben Vardanyan's legal team recently reported on torture, and submitted a petition to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. It is obvious that all Armenian prisoners [in Azerbaijan] are also subjected to torture. In your assessment, can this petition give any result or in some way have a deterrent role in the continuation of torture against Armenian prisoners? It is not a legal process, it is more of a monitoring process which, however, is of great evidentiary importance; that is, the data specified as a result of that process becomes evidence already for court proceedings. If processes are initiated only a few months after the arrest of Ruben Vardanyan, then the situation is extremely bad, or there is no hope anymore. For example, let's take the fact that detention in Azerbaijan is four months [editor’s note: moreover, the last extension of the restraining order was for five months], this term itself is already a violation of the European Convention. The Committee of Ministers has a recommendation, and it is a political document made on the basis of legal standards, where it is said that usually each period of detention should be one month, at most two months. Azerbaijan has set four months for a long time, which in itself contradicts the convention. What is being done now is a mechanism of international investigation. Of course, this mechanism works faster than the judicial process. In my opinion, the goal of the lawyers here was also urgency; in this sense, I believe they did the right thing. The issue here is not to release Ruben Vardanyan, the issue is to at least not put pressure on him; that is, to create counterbalances. - During the past week, EU High Commissioner Josep Borrell and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the topic. Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan reacted quite harshly to Borrell's statement, which had presented a very clear demand. Instead, for Yerevan, this issue does not seem to be among the priorities, or at least that is the impression at the public level. In this situation, isn't it right that Armenia should clearly act as a claimant for the protection of its citizens being held in Baku prison? The Republic of Armenia makes a statement in this regard from time to time. The RA [i.e. the Republic of Armenia] government may have many reasons why it should not be proactive in this matter, or not show extreme diligence. Instead, private groups—human rights groups, lawyers, lobby groups—are needed to help the Republic of Armenia because they can be more unconstrained to express themselves than any public servant of the RA; for example, a minister or a deputy minister, etc. I believe it can be more effective. I do not think that the Republic of Armenia can remain indifferent towards its citizens. It is another thing that they may be constrained due to many factors.