There are currently 21 Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. This was stated today, 5 November, by the head of the Criminalistics Department of the Investigative Committee, Rafael Vardanyan, during a meeting with journalists.
He noted that these figures are constantly changing: “There is data that is in the process of being verified. There is data concerning two individuals that is being clarified. Applications are being submitted to the ECHR by the Armenian representation and individual human rights defenders, so that a special measure is applied and Azerbaijan is obliged to present clear data, as well as to ensure the preservation of all humanitarian standards for Armenian prisoners of war — that is, that they are not tortured and receive the necessary medical care.”
Referring to the footage of torture of Armenian servicemen circulated on the internet, the head of the Criminalistics Department noted that all videos are being examined through proper procedural processes: “We have an individual whose tortured photo was posted on Instagram; in that regard we have also conducted an examination, and an investigative request has been sent to various international law enforcement bodies to ascertain the data and report it.”
Rafael Vardanyan said that they have examined those videos, which in fact contain footage of torture of prisoners of war: “In that regard, the individuals have been recognised as victims. Since the number is constantly changing, stating a precise figure would not be appropriate. We are compiling the data; once we have a clear response from Azerbaijan as to exactly how many people are in what condition, we will have it.”
In response to the question of whether there are cases where footage of torture of an Armenian serviceman has reached the hands of relatives, Rafael Vardanyan said that such cases also exist.
