Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on Thursday called into question the legality of the Armenian authorities’ decision to detain four Armenian soldiers who returned from Azerbaijani captivity on December 4, after being captured during Azerbaijan’s attempted invasion of Armenia on November 16.
“The legality of the detention of four soldiers returning from Azerbaijani captivity is not convincing,” said Tatoyan in a statement posted on Facebook.
Last week, Armenia’s State Investigative Service detained four of the 10 Armenian POWs who were captured during military operations from November 14 to 16 and were repatriated by Azerbaijan on December 4. The soldiers are being charged for abandoning their duties.
Ahead of the soldiers’ return from captivity and their arrests Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that the captives must be questioned and, if need be, have criminal charges filed against them.
Armenia Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan was caught on tape echoing Pashinyan’s comments during a meeting with Armenian community members in Paris. Along with this statement, Simonyan was also heard making disparaging remarks about the POWs, sparking calls for his resignation.
On Thursday, Tatoyan said that statements by high-ranking Armenian officials violated the presumption of innocence rights of the detained soldiers. He argued that the articulated claims have also created prejudice among Armenia’s citizens, and also within the international community, regarding the charges against the soldiers.
“There are obvious undisclosed suspicions of the illegal influence on the bodies investigating a criminal case,” said Tatoyan, who urged an immediate public clarification.
“There is a lot of evidence that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, law enforcement bodies and other officials committed various crimes against Armenian captives. In addition, Azerbaijani authorities violated international laws on rights of captives by harassing and delaying the return of the captives, causing undue duress to their families.
The Human Rights Defender’s staff met with and questioned the 10 returned soldiers, including the four who were subsequently detained.
Tatoyan said that prosecutors and investigative authorities must provide explanations for their actions. He also clarified that his office is not questioning whether there is cause to detain the soldiers, but is pointing out that there have been legal shortfalls in the manner in which Armenia’s authorities proceeded with the process.
