BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 12. Following the instruction of Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva, members of the Azerbaijani Ombudsman's National Preventive Group visited the Baku Detention Center of the Penitentiary Service without prior notice, the Ombudsman's Office told Trend on October 12.
According to the Office, the visit, organized in accordance with Optional protocol to the UN Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and the Constitutional Law 'On the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan', was aimed to study the detention conditions and treatment of detainees.
During the visit, which had doctors and psychologists of the NPG present, the Armenian servicemen who were captured during the September clashes were also received. Confidential conversations established the provision of each POW with medical care, correspondence, and access to information (television, etc.). The detained expressed no dissatisfaction with the conditions of detention and treatment.
Press Secretary of the Investigative Committee of Armenia Vardan Tadevosyan made the remarks on October 5, 2022 that the Armenian servicemen handed over by Azerbaijan were not subjected to torture and ill-treatment. This once again confirms that Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, respects the rights of detainees and complies with international law principles.
Azerbaijan remained committed to the norms of international law in the first and second Karabakh Wars as well. However, Armenia, on the contrary, infringed upon the rights of two Azerbaijanis who were held hostage in Armenia for more than six years. Their communication with family members was limited, while the Armenian captives in Azerbaijan were allowed to maintain close contact with their family members as part of the visits of members of the Azerbaijani Ombudsman's National Preventive Group.
Despite repeated appeals over the fate of 3,890 Azerbaijanis who went missing during the first Karabakh war, Armenia still evades providing necessary information, thus violating the requirements of international humanitarian law.