News - Siranush Sahakyan: State obliged to protect citizens’ rights regardless of their attitude toward existing authorities

Regardless of the attitude of a citizen toward the current authorities, the state is obliged to deal with the protection of the rights of its citizens. Siranush Sahakyan, the Armenian prisoners’ of war representative at the European Court of Human Rights and president of the International Comparative Law Center, stated this in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am. Mrs. Sahakyan, during the last press conference, the Prime Minister mentioned that daily work is being done toward the release of prisoners and hostages held in Baku, although he seems to have contradicted himself with his statements about Ruben Vardanyan in particular. Despite the daily work he mentions, however, no progress has been made in this regard. It seems that the state—the Republic of Armenia—does not have any legal leverage to influence Azerbaijan, which illegally detains our compatriots, some of whom are Armenian citizens, like Ruben Vardanyan, and others ethnic Armenians, as defined by the representatives of the authorities. Is the state really that powerless? Let us just list the instruments that the state, according to a number of international documents, can utilize for the release of its citizens arrested in another country. The first and most important is to conduct effective negotiations for their release. It is the state's obligation to its citizens, not a gift from the state. Regardless of the attitude of Ruben Vardanyan or any other citizen of the Republic of Armenia toward the current authorities, the state is obliged to deal with the protection of the rights of its illegally detained citizens. And if the state does not realize its positive right, then it fails at one of its important functions. I want to hope that the daily work mentioned by the Prime Minister refers to the implementation of this function. Another important point is ensuring the access of the arrested persons to consular service in every possible way. Given that Armenia and Azerbaijan do not have diplomatic relations, according to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the government can authorize a third country to provide consular services on its behalf to its detained citizens. That third country can then send a representative or even its ambassador to get acquainted with the conditions of the detention of prisoners and to deliver letters, parcels, and books. The government also has the right to express its concerns about the treatment of prisoners to the country holding the prisoners through private diplomatic channels or, again, through a third country. If diplomatic efforts do not yield results, the government can publicly raise its voice, condemn the illegal detention of its citizens, make statements regarding their immediate release, draw the attention of the international media to the issue, and appeal to competent international courts and structures, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. These are the basic steps that each state must take if its citizens are being held illegally by another country. As you can see, the aforementioned steps have not been fully implemented. You said "of its citizens," but the representatives of the government—in particular, the Human Rights Council—make a distinction between "ethnic Armenians and citizens of the Republic of Armenia" in their statements regarding the prisoners. Are the tools you mentioned applicable to all 23 prisoners, some of whom—for example, the former presidents of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)]—are not citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but ethnic Armenians? Yes, the toolkit I mentioned is applicable to all 23 Armenians, regardless of other circumstances. The international human rights obligations of the Republic of Armenia exist toward all Armenians, and their dual citizenship is not a factor.