"Armenia Can Organize Visits to Captives Through a Third Country": Siranush Sahakyan

The situation of Armenian captives and civilian hostages held in Azerbaijan continues to be concerning, especially since the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will no longer operate in Azerbaijan. Siranush Sahakyan, head of the "International and Comparative Law Center" and a human rights advocate, stated in an interview with ReOpen Media that Armenia, in the absence of diplomatic relations, can appeal to a neutral mediator country to exercise the right to visit the captives.

"A state whose citizens are held in captivity but which lacks diplomatic and consular relations with the corresponding country can appeal to any neutral country that is accredited and ask it to exercise that right on its behalf," Sahakyan clarifies, noting that this is the principle of "delegation of rights" engulfed in international law.

According to her, if Azerbaijan obstructs this process, it will violate both the sovereign rights of the Republic of Armenia and the rights of Armenian captives guaranteed by international conventions.

Sahakyan also emphasized that currently, certain information about the captives is disseminated by the Azerbaijani side itself, but this cannot be considered reliable or a substitute for independent observations.

"The information is provided by the Azerbaijani authorities, which can be falsified or altered. Whereas, in the case of the International Committee of the Cross, we have independent individuals who see with their own eyes and present their unbiased, objective observations on the matter," the human rights advocate noted.