STRASBOURG (Public Radio of Armenia) — In two judgments issued on November 9, the European Court of Human Rights found that Azerbaijan has violated the rights of two Armenian citizens to life and has obliged the country to pay 40 thousand Euros in each case.
The case of Petrosyan v. Azerbaijan concerns the death of the applicant’s son while in Azerbaijani captivity.
The applicant’s son, Karen Petrosyan, was born in 1981 and was living with the applicant and other members of the family in Chinari, close to the border to Azerbaijan. On August 7, 2014 he crossed the border into Azerbaijan and was captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces.
On the same day two video recordings of Petrosyan were broadcast by Azerbaijani media. In the first one, he was seen being offered tea by a local resident of the village of Aghbulag and having a conversation with some of the other villagers. In the second recording, he was being interrogated, while on his knees with his hands cuffed and being restrained by soldiers. The interrogating army general accused him of being a soldier, having killed civilians, incited hatred and caused aggression. Being shown photographs of him in military uniform, allegedly found on his mobile phone together with phone numbers of his military commanders, he stated that he was a military serviceman
On August 8, 2014 the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced in a news report that Petrosyan had died unexpectedly, according to preliminary information due to “acute cardiopulmonary and myocardial failure.”
Efforts were made by Armenia and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to have Petrosyan’s body returned. Representatives of the US State Department and the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs expressed their concern about the failure to return the body and give information on the circumstances surrounding the death.
