Facts about torture and cruel treatment of Armenian captives and civilians held in Azerbaijan presented — Karen Andreasyan meets with PACE co-rapporteurs

Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan raised the issue of the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war and captives held in Azerbaijan during a meeting with PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs on Armenia Kimmo Kiljunen and Boriana Åberg on 4 November.

The Minister expressed gratitude for the Resolution adopted on 27 September 2021 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the humanitarian consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and informed the co-rapporteurs about the cases of torture and cruel treatment of Armenian captives and civilians held in Azerbaijan, which are also documented by international organisations. In particular, factual data confirmed through preliminary investigation and the testimonies of survivors about the torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, extrajudicial killings, as well as other gross violations of the norms of international humanitarian law were presented to the Monitoring Team.

Among other issues, the reforms being implemented in the justice sector — strengthening of independence of the judicial system, integrity checking of the judiciary, improvement of the sphere of freedom of speech, the process of constitutional reforms, improvement of the mechanisms of checks and balances between the three branches of power, etc. — were also touched upon during the meeting.