Azerbaijan appeals ECHR over Armenia-captured hostages
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
Azerbaijan delivered a letter of appeal to the European Court of Human Rights over the fate of Dilgam Asgarov, Shahbaz Guliyev and Hasan Hasanov, Azerbaijanis taken hostage by Armenia.
Violation of rights of the Azerbaijani hostages was outlined in the letter, Anar Bagirov, Head of the Center for Legal Reforms of Azerbaijan, said at the press-conference on January 30.
"Photos and other proofs reflecting Armenia's inhuman treatments of the hostages were attached to the letter, as well," Bagirov said.
The ECHR has already received the letter and will reply it soon.
The Armenian special forces took hostage Hasan Hasanov, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov in the Shaplar village of the occupied Kalbajar region on July 11 last year, while they were visiting the graves of their relatives.
Following the show trial in Nagorno-Karabakh Dilgam Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Shahbaz Guliyev was sentenced to 22 years in jail.
One of the hostages, Hasan Hasanov, was killed before he was taken to the so-called "court" in Nagorno -Karabakh.
The international community is persistently urging the Armenian authorities to return the hostages to Azerbaijan.
Baroness Anelay of St John’s, British Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, recently said the British government didn’t recognize the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" and its "court".
Meanwhile, Aurelia Grigoriu, a Moldovan ombudsman, expressed her readiness to make her all-out efforts to raise awareness among the European human rights defenders over the issue of Azerbaijani hostages.
Armenia is still turning down the calls from the international community to hand over the hostages to Azerbaijan.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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