Category: 2021

The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, as well the defenders at the ECHR of the interests of Armenian captives and human rights activists Siranush Sahakyan and Artak Zeynalyan, have issued a joint statement on the video publicized Tuesday—and with the participation of speaker Alen Simonyan of the National Assembly of Armenia.

In the video, he makes untrue assessments of the ombudsman and human rights activists' August 9 Special Public Report on Azerbaijan's accountability for torturing and inhumanely treating Armenian captives.

The aforesaid joint statement reads as follows, in particular:

First of all, we consider it inadmissible to videotape a person's private relations, dialogue, and disseminate it without his informed consent.

Regarding the attributions and qualifications voiced to the Joint Special Report, we note:

1. The Speaker of the RA National Assembly Alen Simonyan attributes non-existent facts to the joint special report, as, for example, he mentions that cases of rape of repatriated captives were registered in the report, whereas here is no word on rape in the report.

The personal extraordinary data of any one of the captives, including a photo and video, was never published in the Joint Special Public Report.

2. We would like to inform that in the Joint Special Public Report the international standards of fact-finding work were used in order to confirm the facts of torture of captives. In this respect, the fact-finding work on establishing the fact of torture does not imply that the human rights activist conducting the fact-finding must necessarily be present or involved in the torture process.

Those holding high positions are obliged to separate fact-finding work and complicity.

3. The Joint Special Public Report does not identify and does reveal repatriated captives who have been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment.

Instead, the Joint Special Public Report highlights the patterns and general forms of torture that, as a rule, have typically been used against Armenian captives in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

At the same time, the Joint Special Public Report states that the forms and means of violence against captives were different in each case.

4. In addition to the abovementioned, the repatriated Armenian captives themselves have given interviews to various media outlets, openly presenting the tortures they were subjected to during their stay in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, during the investigation, the testimonies of the repatriated Armenian captives about torture and inhuman treatment were published by the RA investigative bodies.

5. We consider it necessary to emphasize that the provision of abstract information when submitting data on the torture and inhuman treatment of Armenian captives to international organizations has no effectiveness.

When initiating international legal processes, detailed and concrete data are needed, not statements and assertions.

Therefore, we strongly urge high-ranking officials to refrain from publicly speaking on such sensitive issues, not to exploit them for political or other purposes, as they are successfully used by Azerbaijan before international organizations, including the judiciary, to defend itself for its own benefit and to the detriment of the rights of the Armenian captives

Unrealistic statements or qualifications made by high-ranking officials about professional reports pose obstacles to human rights activities.

The police have apprehended opposition activist Vahagn Chakhalyan, a member of the Kamq (Will) initiative, from Marshal Baghramyan Avenue—in front of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia building, where a demonstration of the relatives of the missing and captured servicemen is taking place.

These protesters have closed off the aforementioned avenue.

At one point, a shoving match occurred between police and protesters, and police began apprehending some demonstrators.

These missing and captured soldiers’ families, who are protesting at the entrance of the NA since the morning and have blocked Derenik Demirchyan Street—at the side entrance to the Armenian parliament building—have now closed off Marshal Baghramyan Avenue—in front of the main NA entrance.

They are protesting the fact that NA speaker Alen Simonyan had called the captive Armenian servicemen "deserters."

Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan will move to the governmental mansion in Kond district of Yerevan soon. Spokesperson of the Speaker of the National Assembly Tsovinar Khachatryan confirmed the news during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Currently, the mansion is under renovation, and Alen Simonyan will move there after renovation,” Khachatryan said.

The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh doesn’t definitely imply its independence. Besides that, a territory for holding a referendum in regard to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was not recorded during the negotiations. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in response to questions from deputies during today’s question-and-answer session with government officials in parliament.

According to the Prime Minister, as a result of certain propaganda, an opinion has been formed in the Armenian public that ‘the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh’ definitely implies independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. “Who said that? Final status means a certain final status. I have already talked about the institution of referendum and the traps that lie within a referendum. For instance, during the process of negotiations, it was envisaged that the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh would also participate in the process. There was initially an issue of a share of potential participation of the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh in the referendum. I would also like to call your attention to the fact that during the process of negotiations and in the existing documents, it has never been recorded that the potential referendum will take place in Nagorno-Karabakh. There are many subtleties here,” Pashinyan clarified.

The authorities of Armenia have expressed their interest in the unblocking of all transport links several times. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in response to deputies’ questions during today’s question-and-answer session with government officials in parliament.

The Prime Minister particularly stated that Azerbaijan will be able to ensure road and railway communications with Nakhchivan through Armenia’s territory. “In its turn, Armenia will have railway communication with Iran and Russia through Azerbaijan’s territory. We believe it is necessary to solve the current problems with this very logic. We are also certain that the points enshrined in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs derive from our national interests,” Pashinyan highlighted.

Several circumstances behind the loss of the Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages of Hadrut region of Nagorno-Karabakh are state secret, and today it is necessary to refrain from making any disclosure. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in response to deputies’ questions in parliament today.

According to him, Armenia has already launched a criminal case regarding the fact that the Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, as well as the capture of Armenian servicemen by the adversary. Nevertheless, as the Prime Minister stated, it never became possible to detain one of the key figures involved in this criminal case.

“Nevertheless, there are questions. Overall, I must say that the opposition, which has some ideas and interests, is formulating proposals, the responses to which may give way to different types of speculations. Many details contain state secret,” Pashinyan emphasized and refuted the allegations according to which the authorities have initially decided to transfer the mentioned villages.

“If this was the case, Armenian soldiers wouldn’t be there,” the politician said.