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The Azerbaijani side has consistently failed to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law, and has once again broken the existing rules. The world community in its turn does not show an adequate response to the fate of Armenian serviceman Hagop Indzhigulyana captivated in Azerbaijan. In this connection the first Ombudsman of Armenia, the executive director of the foundation "against legal tyranny "Larisa Alaverdyan and the leader of the project" The Ordinary Genocide " Marina Grigoryan were forced to initiate a second open letter to draw the attention of relevant organizations to this problem.

You can read the second letter, which is open for signing, below.

“We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned of the faith of Armenian soldier Hakob Indjigulyan, who lost his way in the midst of the night on August 8 and wrongly crossed the Nagorno-Karabakh - Azerbaijan border. The fact that private Indjigulyan crossed the Line of Contact accidentally was also verified by Shahin Sailov, the Secretary of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of Azerbaijan, who said “…it was clarified that the Armenian got lost and crossed into the territory controlled by Azerbaijani armed forces.” (http://en.trend.az/news/karabakh/2178159.html)
We are shocked that the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were granted an opportunity to meet the prisoner of war only after 12 days, that in itself is a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Few days after the capture of Indjigulyan, several Azerbaijani news websites revealed a video of him giving "interview" to Azerbaijani ANS TV channel, dressed in Azeri military uniform. In this obviously decorated video appearance, private Indjigulyan’s statement, made in Armenian, is not translated accordingly, but rendered into Azerbaijani language with flaws, in a way to create impression that the soldier crossed the border voluntarily.

Ten days later appeared another interview of Hakob Injigulyan on ANS TV channel of Azerbaijan, which was later uploaded on YouTube video hosting. This time the Armenian prisoner of war is obediently pronouncing the sentences, which were attributed to him in the first interview.

The behavior of Hakob Indjigulyan and the flow of his speech deserves careful medical and psychological examination, which, we believe, may reveal the cause of the sharp changes in the tone and content of the messages uttered in his second interview.

However, from the perspective of international humanitarian law the most important aspect is the fact, that the interview with the Armenian POW is entirely broadcasted under the headline of "Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict". Moreover, in the conclusion the designated host of the TV interview, leaving aside the humanitarian character of the POW issue, links it to the political situation in the region, specifically - the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh in its official Azerbaijani interpretation.

Thus, Azerbaijan demonstrates a manifest disregard for the norms and provisions of the Geneva Conventions in favor of short-term political and propaganda purposes. The aims of the orchestrated interview with the Armenian POW private Indjigulyan are racist in nature, are in grave violation of the erga omnes obligatrions of states imposed by international humanitarian law, and serves the well-known official policy line of Azerbaijan to discredit Armenia and the Armenian nation as a whole.

The “interviews” with private Indjigulyan and their wide dissemination in the media and other sources is in flagrant violation of Article 13(2) of the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of the Prisoners of War, which introduces an international obligation on States to protect POWs of "public curiosity".

Noteworthy, this unlawful policy is employed by Azerbaijan for the second time in a row with the aim of serving domestic political ends.
Previously, on September 11, 2010, an Armenian shepherd Manvel Saribekyan, captured by the Azeri military, was interviewed by the same ANS TV channel several days after the capture, under visible psychological and physical pressure. The inadequate attention of the international community and human rights advocacy groups resulted in Saribekyan’s alleged suicide in Azeri prison cell in the night of October 5, 2010. The body of Saribekyan was transferred to the Armenian side, and the medical examination revealed numerous traces of torture, while earlier a similar examination in Azerbaijan did not. Impunity and lack of an adequate response from the international community has in fact encouraged Azerbaijan to carry out continuous and conscious violations of international humanitarian law.

Hereby, we call on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and all relevant international organizations and agencies, commissioned to serve the values of humankind, to hold Azerbaijan accountable for the gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and to require compliance with those international conventions, to which Azerbaijan is a party.
Specifically, in order to ensure that the rights of Armenian POW private Indjigulyan are fully guaranteed in captivity, as well as to exclude any further attempts of humiliation of his national and human dignity, we urge all international human rights and advocacy groups – especially the ICRC, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, UN High Commissioner on Refugees, OSCE Minsk Group co-Chair countries Ambassadors in Baku and others with access to Azerbaijan – to demand a meeting with Hakob Indjigulyan, in accordance with the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 and other treaties of international humanitarian law. We also urge to fulfill the obligations under Art. 126 (3) of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and to ensure POW private Indjigulyan’s “compatriots… be permitted to participate in the visits”.

We hope that all relevant organizations and peace-loving countries will show commitment to the norms and values of international humanitarian law and will force the Azerbaijani authorities to stand conscious of its erga omnes obligations before the international community of states.”