On January 15 and February 1, 2021, the Court received applications in interstate cases Azerbaijan v. Armenia and Armenia v. Azerbaijan, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said in a statement.
ECHR receives applications from Armenia and Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 4, ARTSAKHPRESS: Earlier, on September 27 and October 27, 2020, the Court received requests for the application of interim measures filed by Armenia and Azerbaijan. On September 29, 2020, the Court granted interim measures.
Taking the view that the developing situation gave rise to a risk of serious violations of the Convention, it called upon both Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from taking any measures, in particular military action, which might entail breaches of the
Convention rights of the civilian population, including putting their life and health at risk, and to comply with their obligations under the Convention, notably in respect of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment). In a statement of 4 November 20202, the Court clarified that the States were under an obligation to respect also the Convention rights of those captured during the conflict.
In addition, the Court has received numerous requests under Rule 39 concerning alleged captives, lodged by the Government of either Armenia or Azerbaijan or by relatives of the captives. The requests received so far concern 241 individuals, 228 Armenians and 13 Azerbaijanis. The Court has invited the respondent Government to provide information on the individuals concerned.
The Court either suspended the proceedings when the respondent Government provided information about their captives or applied Rule 39 when the Government did not provide sufficient information or did not provide any information at all.
The aforementioned cross-border communications contain allegations of widespread violations of the Convention by respondent States during the hostilities that began on 27 September 2020, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, as well as civilian and state property and infrastructure, executions, ill-treatment, and mutilation of combatants and civilians. persons, the capture and detention of prisoners of war, and the forced displacement of civilians in areas affected by the war. Azerbaijan additionally states that "Armenia is responsible for Convention violations in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories since 1992, including the continued displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes and property; the illtreatment and disappearance of Azerbaijani nationals without proper investigations; and the destruction of cultural and religious property."
