Your trusted source

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday published another judgment against Azerbaijan, confirming that Azerbaijan tortured and illegally deprived of liberty Armenian citizen Artur Badalyan, who got lost and found himself on the territory of Azerbaijan, Liparit Drmeyan, the head of the Office of Armenia’s Representative before ECHR, said on Facebook.

The European Court obliged Azerbaijan to pay Badalyan €30,000 in non-pecuniary damage, he said.

“It’s worth noting that Azerbaijan continues to violate the rights of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives being held by it,” Drmeyan wrote.

The ECHR judgment said that on 9 May 2009 the applicant disappeared and was captured by the Azerbaijani forces. His relatives contacted the Armenian authorities, after which he was registered as a missing person in Armenia and a search for him was undertaken.

However, his whereabouts remained unknown to his family and the Armenian authorities until 5 November 2010 when he was registered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as an Armenian captive held in Azerbaijan. Thereafter the applicant was regularly visited by the ICRC in detention until 17 March 2011 when he was released to the Armenian authorities through the mediation of the ICRC as part of an exchange of captives. The exchange was made in the Agdam region.

Artur Badalyan was captured by the Azeri forces when he went with a group of friends to the village of Navur near the town of Berd, close to the border with Azerbaijan, to pick mushrooms in the forest.

Following his arrest by the Azerbaijani forces, the applicant was held captive for 22 months in different military facilities. He claims that he was not given enough food and was often not allowed to go to the toilet, thus having to care for his needs in the cell. Moreover, he was subjected to harsh torture and mental anguish.