Azerbaijan Bar Association: ECHR to soon decide on Azerbaijani hostages

By  Trend

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will soon make a decision on Azerbaijanis Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, taken hostage by Armenian military formations, lawyer of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Bar Association Anar Bagirov told Trend April 6.

He said that the Armenian side appealed to the ECHR with a request to give a delay until March of this year.

“The Armenian side had to express its position before March,” Bagirov added. “The ECHR gave them a delay. It is already April. I can say with absolute certainty that the issue will be resolved in the shortest possible time.”

He noted that the ECHR should soon announce its decision.

“The case is nearing completion,” he said. “I’m sure that our fair position will be taken into account in this case, the rights of Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov will be protected and a fair decision will be made.”

Bagirov noted that if the ECHR makes a decision, the Armenian side will have to implement this decision.

During an operation in July 2014 in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district occupied by Armenia, the Armenian special forces killed an Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov, and took hostage two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A "criminal case" was initiated against them. Afterwards, a "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.