“The Azerbaijani will be held Liable for their misdemeanors; they must justify why they held me in Captivity for 2 years”. Artur Badalyan has sent a Complaint to the ECHR

The “Center for Strategic Litigation”, a human rights NGO, has sent a complaint to the ECHR with a claim to recognize the captivity of a native of Haghartsin Village, Artur Badalyan, and the torture exerted against him as violations of Article 3, 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

32-year-old Artur Badalyan is determined to struggle till the end. “The Azerbaijani will be held liable for their misdemeanors; they must justify why they held me in captivity for 2 years”, Artur Sakunts told Medialab.am. Head of the organization, Advocate Edmon Marukyan states that by keeping Artur Badalyan captive on the Azerbaijani side, they have violated Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 of Article 5 and Article 3 on the “European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”, pursuant to which, no one should be subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

May 9, 2009, while collecting mushrooms with his friends, Artur Badalyan lost his way in the forested area of Berd, near the borderline forest and unintentionally crossed the border into Azerbaijan.“Someone asked for a cigarette in Armenian and I gave him one. He said no more, only stated in Russian “Do not be afraid”. Later several people came and took me away”, recalled Artur. Bad things came into my mind. I thought I will not ever get back home and I thought they were taking me to a Bayram feast to slaughter me”. The Azerbaijani first took Badalyan to a bordering village, later to Ghazakh, Baku and back again to Ghazakh. “Throughout the 22-month captivity, Artur Badalyan was deprived of a chance to seek legal defense in the territory of Azerbaijan to dispute the issue of his captivity as well as the conditions that he was living in”, explains the advocate.

The advocate points out the fact that during the whole period of Badalyan’s captivity, Artur was subject to beatings, to both physical and psychological pressures, which led him to face serious psychological problems in the future. “They gave him electric shocks from wires attached to his fingers causing severe pain, he was not given proper food or water, and they did not let him take care of his basic needs. Very often Artur could only take care of his basic needs in the same cell he was being kept captive in. Every 2-3 months in cold weather he was given a cold water “shower” outside.  All these tortures made it difficult for him to re-integrate into society. For the re-integration he must live in the past, which he is not able to do” states the advocate.“The situation was even worse in Baku. They treated me as if they were keeping a pig. The isolation cell had no windows, no sunlight could penetrate the cell, and they used to hit on the door with a piece of iron not giving me even a1-minute rest”. Sleepless nights and incessant noise are in his memory. Although Artur is attempting to recover and overcome his health related issues, the voices and treatment during his captivity will not leave him alone. “I am recovering slowly, now I can log firewood and be with my child. But those voices are still in my mind, they are prosecuting me all day long… although I have adjusted to hearing them, they do not get on my nerves as they used to do”, says Artur, who is suffering from feet and arm pains. “Although I have physically recovered to some extent, my feet and arms are still in pain, I cannot walk for long distances”, states Artur.

Human rights activist Artur Sakunts, Head of “Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor” human rights organization, believes that the discussion of this case by the European Court of Human Rights is a precedent in  legal practice. “The issues of the NK Conflict victims are becoming a subject for political manipulation instead of distinction. By this, a step to distinction is made”, Sakunts is convinced. According to the human rights activist, this process can have a crucial impact from the perspective of providing human rights protection during conflicts. That advocates claim that it will take a minimum of 1,5-2,5 years for the ECHR to take the case into proceedings.

“We will have a legal document, by which it will be possible to carry out preventive actions to avoid possible violations of human rights”, hopes Sakunts.

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