The office of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman), Karen Andreasyan, organized a private viewing of a video recording of the torture of Armenian serviceman Hakob Injighulyan in Azerbaijan, Asbarez reports.
Armenia’s Ministry of Defense confiscated the video record from Azerbaijani saboteurs and placed it at the Ombudsman’s disposal.
Representatives of a number of diplomatic missions and international organizations — including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the United Nations — attended the private viewing.
Armen Grigoryan, Deputy Ombudsman on military issues, said he is deeply concerned over the inhumane treatment of Hakob Injighulyan and other Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan.
Hakob Injighulyan, an Armenian citizen and an army conscript, failed to find his bearings on the ground and crossed into the Azeri-controlled territory on the night of August 8, 2013.
Azeri media outlets have since been spreading information suggesting the captive is unwilling to return to Armenia.
Injughulyan was transferred to a UN refugee camp, with the news given to his family on August 28. "Hakob was reluctant to leave for the third country, but the only choice he was given was between leaving for the third country or dying," the captive’s brother, Harutyun, said at the time.
In a conversation with journalists, the serviceman recounted hardships experienced in Azeri captivity.
“Yes, I was beaten. They threatened to shoot me to death. The interviews were given under pressure; they would call and tell me what to say. And before the Red Cross visits too, they would call me to give instructions; they would read my letters …” he said, confirming that his departure for the third country before arrival to Armenia was prompted by Azeri threats of death.
Injighulyan said he was held in a five-storey penitentiary for servicemen, where he had also met Armenians. He said he was offered medical help only once after he got harshly beaten.
