Lawyer hails ECHR ruling in soldier case

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rose to the occasion by recording that the crimes were committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces and by Azerbaijan, lawyer Ara Ghazaryan, the representative of the applicants in the case, said while commenting on the court’s judgment concerning a beheaded Armenian serviceman.

Ghazaryan stated that the ECHR’s ruling in the case of “V.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan” has become an indisputable historical fact, Panorama.am reported.

“Any judicial act ultimately becomes indisputable. That aspect is very important to me. It shows the face of war. Just as a Hetq journalist somehow managed to reach Talish and photograph the Khalapyan family, and they eventually decided to publish that photograph—you know what I am referring to. The world understood that this was not self-defense at all, as Azerbaijan presents it.

It was not a patriotic war; it was an aggressive war. In a patriotic war, servicemen are not beheaded, nor are their hands cut off. Although the Azerbaijani government constantly objects, the ECHR rose to the occasion by recording that the crimes were committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces and by Azerbaijan,” the lawyer emphasized.

He reiterated that the judicial decision calls into question claims advanced by Azerbaijan regarding the legitimacy of what it describes as a “patriotic” or “self-defense” war.

“Azerbaijan sought to legitimize what I consider acts of terror and aggressive warfare committed by it. Judicial decisions of this kind are intended to remove that legitimacy. In my opinion, that is their greatest legal value,” Ara Ghazaryan said.

On June 18, the European Court of Human Rights published its judgment in the case “V.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan.” The case concerns the torture and killing of Armenian serviceman H.T., who was incapacitated after being wounded during the April 2016 four-day war and subsequently encountered Azerbaijani armed forces.

According to submissions made by H.T.’s parents and sister, who were the applicants in the case, he was wounded during an attack by Azerbaijani forces and became unable to walk independently. They stated that he was tortured by Azerbaijani servicemen and then killed by beheading. The applicants also argued that the family was unable to recover all parts of his body and conduct a proper burial.