On March 21, the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) and the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights held a virtual discussion with the Armenian Youth Federation of the Eastern Region of the USA (AYF-ER) on "Refreshing Artsakh. Captives, MIA and gross violations of human rights.
The discussion was moderated by Worcester State University professor and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Ph.D. Henry Theriault. Experts included Siranush Sahakyan, the president of the International and Comparative Law Center, Artak Beglaryan, the chief of staff of the Artsakh president, Levon Gevorgyan, a lawyer and senior manager of the International Consulting Company.
In the opening speech, Dr. Terrio mentioned that in addition to updates on the current situation in Artsakh, the discussion will also analyze human rights violations by Azerbaijan and Turkey against Armenians in Artsakh.
Artak Beglayran presented an analysis of the attack on Artsakh and his fact-finding mission to document the unprecedented level of human rights violations during and after the war. He highlighted the fact that Turkey and Azerbaijan have imported terrorist mercenaries from Syria and Libya to join the war, and have also carried out attacks on civilians, including residential buildings and public institutions, some of which, he said, are under the protection of the international humanitarian law: schools, churches and hospitals.
Beglaryan also mentioned Azerbaijan's and Turkey's use of banned cluster munitions and weapons such as white phosphorus, which have been used to kill civilians, destroy religious and cultural monuments, and burn forests, causing an environmental crisis.
"It was a rather intense, aggressive war, in which Azerbaijan aimed to subject the Armenian population of Artsakh to ethnic cleansing and occupy the entire Republic of Artsakh," Beglaryan said in his speech.
Beglaryan also spoke about the many prisoners of war illegally held in Azerbaijan, most of whom were captured in 2020. after the November 9 ceasefire.
The president of I.C.Law-Armenia Siranush Sahakyan presented the cases of human rights violations by Azerbaijan, including beheadings, amputations and intentional murders.
Sahakyan spoke about the project she led, organized with the "Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights". Within the framework of the project, he initiated about 130 cases of ECHR regarding Armenian prisoners of war, including many civilians.
"We are trying to reach the process of punishing the perpetrators of war crimes against Armenia, be it in Armenia or in other jurisdictions. We expect that, based on the facts established by the independent court of the ECHR, many advanced states will be responsible for prosecuting the Azerbaijani officers and commanders who committed crimes during the 2020 war," Sahakyan clarified.
Lawyer Levon Grigoryan also referred to RA judicial initiatives. He spoke about the interstate lawsuit filed by the Armenian government against the Republic of Azerbaijan in February, which refers to various violations both during the war and as a result of it.
"There are certain political factors that will probably hinder any attempt to bring the issue to the Security Council. The RA government should definitely be extremely proactive and much more than now for the comprehensive protection of the rights of those who died in this war," the lawyer said in his speech.