Despite the language contained in paragraph eight of the November 10, 2020 Trilateral Statement, signed by the President of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister of Armenia, and President of Russia, Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) are still held captive in Azerbaijan. With the circulation of gruesome videos on social media of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, there are several concerns for the treatment and safety of Armenian POWs. These concerns are further heightened by Azerbaijan’s incorrect labeling of Armenian POWs as terrorists and refusal to acknowledge their deprivation of liberty, which denies them the protection of the law and places their lives at serious risk.
Recently, on March 12, 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that documents several cases of detained Armenian civilians who were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment by Azerbaijani forces. Those cases had been verified by the close relatives of two detainees, people who had been held in captivity with photo and video evidence provided by Armenia’s Representative at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“Two detainees died in Azerbaijani captivity; one of them, based on the evidence, was most likely the victim of an extrajudicial execution. Azerbaijani forces detained these civilians even though there was no evidence that they posed any security threat – they had no weapons and did not participate in the hostilities,” said Tanya Lokshina, HRW’s Associate Director of Europe and Central Asia Division.
