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ICRC comments on Ombudspersonâ€™s statement on Azerbaijanis held hostage by Armenia

11 December 2016 15:42 (UTC +04:00)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has commented on the statement by Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsperson) Elmira Suleymanova regarding Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were taken hostage by Armenians in occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan.

In all cases, the ICRC does not pronounce itself on the reasons for arrest and legal aspects of detention and conviction, nor it advocates for the release of the detained persons, Ilaha Huseynova, head of the Communication Department of the ICRC Baku Office, told APA on Sunday.

“What we focus on, is to be able to secure humane treatment and conditions of detention for all detainees,” she said. “We also seek to alleviate the suffering of their families, particularly by restoring communication between detainees and their relatives.”

Huseynova noted that the Geneva Conventions are the most widely accepted international treaties in force that define the responsibilities of the parties during armed conflict and set forth the mandate of the ICRC.

“They do not exempt persons protected by Conventions from judicial process. The treaties require that judicial guarantees are respected. The treaties require that judicial guarantees be respected,” she added.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Ombudsperson said she had discussions with the head of the ICRC about Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, during which the latter affirmed that their imprisonment by an illegal court runs contrary to the norms of international law.

In July of 2014, Russian citizen Dilgam Asgarov and Azerbaijani citizen Shahbaz Guliyev were taken hostage and another Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov was shot to death by the Armenian servicemen while trying to visit their homeland in Kalbajar.

Hasan Hasanov’s body was taken from the enemy and buried in Baku.

On December 19, 2014, an illegal court of the separatist regime in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh sentenced Dilgam Asgarov to life in prison, Shahbaz Guliyev to 22 years in prison.