Armenia's human rights violations once again in spotlight

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenia has long been criticized for its human-rights record, but this time the Sargsyan regime has cracked down on human rights more severely.

The arrest of a young writer and civic activist Lusine Nersisyan, from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh’s Khankendi city, received wide publicity.

Nersisyan was recently detained by Armenian security forces for joining the Platform for Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace. The platform was initiated by Baku to bring together representatives of civil society of the two countries for creating dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the sides to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Moreover, she gave an interview to the Azerbaijani media, where talked about the true situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Soon after that, Nersisyan was arrested by Armenian Special Service Bodies in Karabakh.

Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard, commenting on Nersisyan’s arrest, said that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace Platform created by political experts and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan is very important for strengthening ties between different groups for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Mard also expressed concern over Nersisyan’s destiny: “I am worried about her. This also indicates that media must follow the issues.”

 “The actions of the Armenian side violate fundamental human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights,” Chairman of the Moldavian Public Chamber, politician Aurelia Grigoriu told Trend on December 15.

In particular, Grigoriu noted that Armenia violated the article #19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, such as article #10 on Freedom of expression and opinion, article #5 on Right to liberty and security of person, as well as article #6 about the Right to a fair trial.

“Armenia and the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh formation allow themselves all these violations exactly because of impunity. The international community should finally take sanctions against a country violating human rights and being the aggressor,” Grigoriu stressed.

Head of the Baku Network's expert council Elkhan Alasgarov, in turn, noted that Armenia perceives with hostility the situation with the Baku Declaration, which was signed by a group of Armenians and Azerbaijanis within the Peace Platform.

“Nersisyan spoke about the troubles that the conflict, provoked by a group of radical Armenian nationalists, brought to Karabakh residents,” Alasgarov said.

However, the Armenian media keep silence about it – they are stick to the policy aimed at impeding the idea of reconciliation between the two peoples, the expert noted.

Alasgarov called on international human rights organizations to protect the Armenians who signed the Baku Declaration: “Turning a blind eye to these processes, they actually contribute to the continuation of this conflict, which can progress into a more active form.”

Thus, Armenia once again showed that it is not ready to come to negotiations with Azerbaijan over the Karabakh issue. The only policy the Armenian government follows is to raise hatred towards Azerbaijan in the Armenian society and to prohibit any way of contact  aimed at the conflict resolution.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.