HRC 53: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

27 June, 2023

Delivered by Hrachuhi Katvalyan, Deputy Permanent Representative

President,

Armenia thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report.

We appreciate the technical visit of the Special Rapporteur carried out to Armenia for capacity needs assessment.

We share the Special Rapporteur’s conviction that States assume direct responsibility for lives of individuals deprived of liberty. It follows that all such deaths must be investigated.

Armenia thanks the Special Rapporteur, together with other special procedure mandate holders, for bringing up to the attention of the authorities of Azerbaijan the cases of extrajudicial executions of Armenian Prisoners of War. Such killings were reported consistently during and in the aftermath of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in the course of encroachment of Azerbaijan on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Besides cold-blooded killings, these cases also included the deaths of Armenian servicemen due to the lack of medical treatment in custody.

Distinguished Special Rapporteur, nobody was charged for those crimes, even though some of the perpetrators could be clearly identified in the short videos disseminated by Azerbaijani servicemen themselves.

It is our conviction that the special procedure mandate holders should consider remaining seized of the matter until justice is served and accountability ensured.

I thank you.

First right of reply

President,

Armenia would like to exercise its right of reply to Azerbaijan.

On numerous occasions Armenia has drawn the attention of the international community to extrajudicial executions, mistreatment and torture of the Armenian PoWs and civilians captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces during and in the aftermath of the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Human Rights Watch published a detailed report of cases of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment of Armenians under the Azerbaijani custody. There are still 32 Armenians, both civilian and military alike, detained in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan blatantly ignores the Orders of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights adopted on Armenian detainees. Many more people are counted as enforced disappearances.

The UN Mandate Holders expressed most serious concern at the (and I quote) “intentional extrajudicial killings and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and even amounting to torture of hors de combat Armenian soldiers as well as outrages upon personal dignity and disrespectful treatment of human remains.” (end of quote)

The Mandate Holders asked for “factual and legal reasons for the continued detention of PoWs after the cessation of hostilities and measures to inform the disappeared about their fate and the exact whereabouts.”

The Mandate Holders also reported on deaths of Armenian PoWs caused by inadequate medical treatment, as well as on desecration of the bodies of Armenian soldiers, including women. They stressed that these violations could amount to various war crimes in contravention of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, of which Azerbaijan is a party.

On November 2021 Azerbaijan announced an amnesty for all those who participated in the war against Nagorno-Karabakh conveniently putting to rest even the theoretical possibilities for accountability on the crimes identified by the Mandate Holders.

It should be stressed also that during the review of Azerbaijan last August, the UN CERD expressed its deep concern with regard to the violations committed by Azerbaijani military forces against Armenian PoWs, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention.

Finally, the ICJ ordered Azerbaijan to protect from violence and bodily harm all persons captured in relation to the conflict and ensure their security and equality before the law.

I thank you.

Second right of reply

President,

We’d like to share once again with this Council our grave concern about the lack of accountability for extrajudicial killings committed in Nagorno-Karabakh. The High Commissioner for Human Rights pointed out to the extrajudicial execution of Armenians by Azerbaijani armed forces that may amount to a war crime. The Special Procedure Mandate Holders dispatched several communications to Azerbaijan, including on extrajudicial executions of Armenians.

Numerous killings of civilian captives, including women and elderly, have never been investigated despite the evidence documented in detail by a number of international watchdogs as well as video materials circulated by the Azerbaijani servicemen themselves.

It is a well-established fact that arbitrary killings, beheadings and mutilations of Armenians are not isolated incidents. This was a policy and the way of conduct during all three wars unleashed by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno- Karabakh. In 2016 a Yazidi-Armenian solder captured by Azerbaijani armed forces was beheaded in an ISIS style ritual killing and Azerbaijani officer posing in photos with the head received a medal from Azerbaijani authorities. Dozens of videos circulated in the social media by Azerbaijani users clearly demonstrate that perpetrators and the cheering crowd around them take sickening pride for killing Armenians in the most inhumane way.

In the same manner, Azerbaijan tends to ignore the plight of more than 1000 missing persons and enforced disappearances from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Arbitrary killings of Armenians and attempted murders after the war have a very precise aim – to intimidate and ethnically cleanse Artsakh from its indigenous population. Azerbaijani military is specifically targeting civilians conducting post war reconstruction or agricultural works.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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