Azernews.Az

BAKU – An Armenian citizen who was held captive in Azerbaijan has filed a lawsuit to the European rights court claiming he faced torture at the country’s National Security Ministry, an Azerbaijani rights defender quoted the Penal Reform International organization as saying.

Elchin Behbudov, chairman of the Committee Against Torture, said Artur Badalyan’s suit has been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights.

"I have contacted the National Security Ministry officials regarding this matter. I was told that the person in question had never been held at the ministry," Behbudov said.

He stated that Azerbaijani power-wielding agencies have always treated Armenian prisoners humanely.

"I am very disappointed that Azerbaijani citizens who face torture in Armenia do not file suits to international courts after returning home. But Armenians are making fake complaints, even without any facts at hand."

Shahin Sayilov, the spokesman for Azerbaijan's State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, has confirmed that an individual named Artur Badalyan had not been held at the National Security Ministry "for a single day", labeling his claims "a lie".

Badalyan, a 33-year-old civilian who had been held in Azerbaijan from May 2009, was handed over to his home country on March 17, 2011.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks brokered by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.