CHAPTER 3: ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

Chapter 3. ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

I. INTRODUCTION

During and since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, the government of Azerbaijan has condoned, facilitated, and directly perpetrated enforced disappearances tied to arbitrary detentions and use of secret detention. University Network for Human Rights (UNHR or University Network) has reviewed and independently collected evidence of Azerbaijan's forcible disappearance of Armenian troops over three years of fact-finding. This evidence includes the existence of 80 cases of missing individuals who were last known to be alive while being held by Azerbaijani forces (these cases have been brought before the European Court of Human Rights); firsthand interviews with two different returned prisoners of war (POWs) who were in Azerbaijani custody for months before their status changed from “missing” to “POW”; and testimony from one returned POW who reported being in detention in Azerbaijan alongside Armenians who to this day are classified as missing persons. The issue of enforced disappearances relates directly to that of missing persons. Thus, in this chapter, we also briefly discuss how the Armenian government has fallen short of providing accurate and timely information to families of missing persons, exacerbating their suffering and creating obstacles in the search for the disappeared.

II. International Legal Framework for Enforced Disappearance

An enforced disappearance, sometimes referred to as a forced disappearance, is the abduction or imprisonment of a person by State agents or those acting under the authorization or approval of the State followed by the failure or refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty, rendering that person outside the protection of the law.¹ Sometimes a person who has been killed is classified as disappeared when the State has concealed the fate of the victim. Disappearances have a double impact: first on the individual, who endures human rights abuses while detained outside the protection of the law; and second, on families and society, who experience uncertainty about the disappeared victim and general fear.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED), of which Azerbaijan is a signatory, holds that State agents are prohibited from carrying out enforced disappearances and that the State will take “appropriate measures” to investigate enforced disappearances committed by private groups within the State.² Signatories to the convention must put in place measures to prevent and investigate disappearances, and they must also provide reparations to victims of enforced disappearances.³ Furthermore, the convention emphasizes that “[n]o exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”⁴ Finally, the CED, like the Rome Statute, to which Armenia is a signatory, states that enforced disappearance can constitute a crime against humanity if it is part of a widespread and systematic practice.⁵

III. Key Findings

1. Azerbaijan Forcibly Disappeared Armenian Captives

Azerbaijan forcibly disappeared Armenian soldiers and civilians during and beyond the 2020 war. Accounts from family members of the victims, and in a few cases, by those forcibly disappeared who were later acknowledged and released, reveal that Azerbaijani authorities knowingly exploited conditions of secret detention and “missing person” status to inflict severe physical and mental suffering on captives. Moreover, Azerbaijani officials have knowingly withheld information about the whereabouts of missing persons from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Armenian government, when the individuals in question were in fact being held by Azerbaijani state forces.

UNHR spoke with Hagop,⁶ a former prisoner of war who was forcibly disappeared by Azerbaijani forces from November 16 to December 10, 2021. Azerbaijan released him to Armenia 19 days after he re-established contact with his family via the ICRC. The initial moments of Hagop's capture, alongside 12 other Armenian troops, were described above in this report's chapter on Arbitrary Detention. Hagop recalled that after being disarmed and subdued, he and the others were blindfolded, loaded into a truck, and driven away. “My eyes were blindfolded and I had no idea where I was being taken,” Hagop said. “I thought I was going to be executed, as many captured Armenian soldiers have been by the Azeris.”⁷

Hagop and the other soldiers were beaten and abused by Azerbaijani forces throughout the transport. When they arrived at the second location the following day, the Armenian soldiers were placed in cells and regularly beaten.

Hagop and over thirty other Armenian captives were eventually transported to a second prison facility, this one in Baku. Hagop was initially hopeful when they were loaded into transport vehicle.

“We thought they were bringing us to Armenia.”⁸

These hopes were dashed when they saw the Azerbaijani special forces and accompanying journalists at their destination. Despite the journalists’ presence, no reports came out about the soldiers’ detention, and Hagop remained listed as missing in action (MIA).⁹

During an interrogation on November 18, Hagop was told by his interrogator that some soldiers were formally reported as being in Azerbaijani custody (POWs), but others were not. Hagop was among the latter – he was not listed as a prisoner of war nor acknowledged as being in Azerbaijani custody.

“The interrogator told me that I was considered as missing in action. He told me that they could do whatever they wanted to those of us considered MIA – that they could kill and bury me and no one would ever know anything.”

Hagop was sure that this was the fate that many of his comrades had suffered. He was then told he would stay in a Baku prison for a “very, very long time.”¹⁰

Azerbaijani forces held Hagop in this prison from November 18 to December 29. November 14 was the last time his parents had heard from him. He was eventually able to contact his parents on December 10, through a monitored call, with the help of the ICRC. On December 29, Hagop was taken back to Armenia and released.

“Arriving home was like a new life.”¹¹
Hagop, 2022

On February 8, 2022, the last two of three soldiers that were taken alongside Hagop were returned; one person remained in Azerbaijani custody at the time of UNHR's conversation with Hagop.

UNHR also spoke with Mariam Baghdassarian, sister of Hayk Baghdassarian,¹² in Yerevan, a year and a half after she last heard from her brother. Hayk, a 32-year-old father of two, went to the front four days after the fighting began in Nagorno-Karabakh. Mariam and her family continued to hear from Hayk regularly over the next three weeks, but on October 21st he stopped answering his phone. A week later, an acquaintance sent them a video on Telegram showing Hayk with his hands tied being forced to say “Karabakh is Azerbaijan” in Russian. This same video later appeared on YouTube. The lawyers representing Mariam and her family explained that the ICRC and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have presented requests for information on Hayk to the Azerbaijani government, but the government has denied that their forces are holding Hayk captive and claim to have no information concerning his whereabouts.¹³ Despite Azerbaijan's formal denial to the ICRC and ECHR, the video evidence, which we have reviewed, clearly demonstrates that Azerbaijani forces held Hayk in captivity.

Aram Karapetyan, the father of Vasgen Karapetyan,¹⁴shared a similar story. Vasgen was 26 years old when the war began. Vasgen had been working with a local charitable organization, but soon chose to follow in the footsteps of his elder brother and join the war effort as an Armenian soldier. Vasgen's family last heard from him when he spoke to his mother on the phone and told her he was heading to a new position. Three days later, Aram's brother-in-law saw a video of Vasgen being held captive by Azerbaijani forces.¹⁵ In the video, a voice behind the camera asked Vasgen to identify himself by his first and last name and to state “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” The family later found out that this video, in addition to circulating on Telegram, was broadcast on Azerbaijani public television.¹⁶

The International and Comparative Law Center, an Armenia-based human rights organization, submitted an application to the ECHR on Vasgen's behalf. As in the case of Mariam's brother Hayk, the European Court granted a request for interim measures, but the Azerbaijani government merely responded that they could neither confirm nor deny having Vasgen in custody.¹⁷ Vasgen's father continues the search for his son, but ends our interview on an ambiguous note. “I'm hopeless. I have no news from the government. I only have faith in [names his lawyer] and the ICRC.”¹⁸

The University Network obtained firsthand testimony that corroborates accusations that Azerbaijan' engages in a systematic practice of enforced disappearance from former POWs as well. Varujan²¹ told UNHR that when he was first captured and brought to the Kovsakan Kindergarten, Azerbaijani forces were already holding four other Armenian troops there. Those four soldiers were still considered missing as of the date of that interview. Varujan also identified one other Armenian with whom he interacted regularly in the Baku prison, whom, again, as of the time of that interview, Azerbaijan had not confirmed to be in their custody.²²

In addition to the direct accounts gathered from family members and victims, UNHR reviewed information collected by the International and Comparative Law Center (ICLC) in Armenia, which has brought 300 cases of human rights violations related to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War before the ECHR. Siranush Sahakyan, an Armenian human rights lawyer and co-founder of the organization, explained that their team has cross-checked videos and images on social media, statements by Azerbaijani officials, and information gleaned from interviews with families and witnesses. After reviewing all of this data, ICLC concluded that, with regard to at least 80 cases of missing persons, there is

“irrefutable proof of captives being alive among Azerbaijani soldiers.”²³

UNHR researchers independently reviewed videos and photographs published on social media, namely Azerbaijani Telegram channels, as well as those shared with us by family members and their lawyers. We also reviewed videos and photographs published by NGOs, whose publications we have cited throughout this report, and public and non-public reports prepared by the Human Rights Defenders (Ombudspeople) of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. This review revealed numerous cases of missing individuals who were last known to be alive while being held by Azerbaijani forces.

Given the number of cases, the amount of time that has passed without new information coming to light, and Azerbaijani authorities' categorical denial of any knowledge or responsibility, it is fair to conclude that the government of Azerbaijan is engaging in a pattern of behavior that condones, facilitates, and directly perpetrates enforced disappearances.

A Story of Survival in Azerbaijani Secret Detention

Areg¹⁹ was captured and disappeared by Azerbaijani forces after being injured during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. He was denied basic medical attention, endured both physical and psychological torture, and was isolated in a cell in Baku. For the first three months of his captivity, the Azerbaijani government denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. Today, Areg walks with a limp as a result of his treatment in Azerbaijan. He hopes that the international community will help pressure the Azerbaijani government both to return the POWs still imprisoned in Baku and reveal the whereabouts of the Armenians still missing.

In July 2020, Areg began his two years of conscriptive service in the military. In Hadrut, his leg was injured by shrapnel from a grenade. Areg and eight other soldiers made it to a nearby village, where they hid in a cellar with no ammunition, surviving on self-imposed rations of two to three spoonfuls per day from the stash of canned food they found in that cellar and nearby abandoned homes.

When Azerbaijani forces located the group after 40 days, only five soldiers remained: Four had left to look for help, and two had succumbed to their injuries. They were forced to identify themselves on video and were then transported to Baku. Azerbaijani forces zip-tied their hands, blindfolded them, beat them with rifles, and told them that their fellow servicemen had been executed (Areg later found out that this was not true).

Although Areg had identified himself in the video for the Azerbaijani troops, and the Azerbaijani troops had transferred him to a prison in Baku, the Azerbaijani government denied having any knowledge of Areg’s whereabouts during this time.

Azerbaijani forces held Areg in solitary confinement, injured, with no access to the ICRC. He was denied medical attention and any communication with the outside world, beyond his prison guard. His only interaction with the prison guard consisted of the guard repeatedly forcing Areg to yell, “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.”

“When I was interrogated by Azerbaijani officials, one would bring me cigarettes and tea just for the other to smack them out of my hands.” While Armenian officials thought he was dead, Areg's parents suspected he was alive because they could see that he was still active on Facebook. This online activity resulted from Azerbaijani interrogators forcing him to log onto his Facebook page.

“The interrogators would scroll through my friends’ and family members’ pages, asking me questions and threatening to harm them, or me.”

Areg’s mental health deteriorated rapidly during this time. Some of Areg’s fellow servicemen were executed while in captivity; others committed suicide. When Areg began to display suicidal inclinations, Azerbaijani forces brought in a another Armenian captive to stay in his cell with him and keep him alive. Areg’s treatment did not improve until New Years of 2021, when the Azerbaijani government finally acknowledged that, after three months of captivity, Areg was indeed being held as a prisoner of war. However, he was still not permitted to communicate with the outside world, the ICRC, or receive any medical care until February 9, 2021 (four months after he lost contact with his unit), when he and five other Armenian prisoners were released to Armenia.²⁰

2. Azerbaijan and Armenia Violate “Right to Know” about Missing Persons

The problem of enforced disappearances is closely related to the issue of missing persons. In the words of a group of UN Special Rapporteurs who issued a joint statement on the conflict, “Failure to disclose information on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons and refusal to hand over the remains of the deceased may amount to enforced disappearance, which both Azerbaijan and Armenia have committed to preventing.”²⁴ The ICRC reported that as of September 2022, they had registered 309 missing Armenians between 2020 and 2022 in connection with the armed conflict with Azerbaijan.²⁵

As an ICRC spokesperson put it in an interview with UNHR researchers in March 2023, “The main principle is the 'right to know' of the families, and that is the obligation of the authorities.” The failure to determine the whereabouts of missing persons takes a devastating emotional toll on their families. Families are left helpless as months and years go by without information.

While Azerbaijan is primarily responsible for the fate of the missing whose last known whereabouts were inside Azerbaijani-controlled territory, the Armenian government has also failed to guarantee families transparency and access to information regarding their missing loved ones. It should also be noted that many or most of the missing, whether forcibly disappeared or lost in the course of active combat, may no longer be, or may at no point have been, in Azerbaijani custody.

The families we interviewed described significant obstacles to obtaining precise information from the Armenian government about the status of their missing family members.

A Couple's Search for their Missing Son²⁶

Karine and Hratch reside high in the mountains overlooking Yerevan. Together, the couple has two children. Artyom was 22 years old and Gevorg was 20 years old at this writing. Artyom began his mandatory conscription after graduating high school at just 19 years old. He was deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh and had served one year and three months before the 44-Day War began. On September 27, 2020, Karine and Hratch waited for Artyom to call home, as he had done every day since entering the military, but he never did. Eventually learning of the start of the war through televised news, Artyom's parents repeatedly called him and every number he had ever called them from, but none of their calls went through. So they waited.

On October 7, 2020, Karine and Hratch saw Artyom's name in a list of martyred soldiers that ran periodically on TV. Karine and Hratch were devastated - no one had reached out prior to notify them. In fact, no official has ever contacted them in any capacity to provide information about Artyom's whereabouts, so Karine and Hratch spent everyday attempting to gather more information. After contacting the Ministry of Defense, they visited morgues hoping to at least identify Artyom's body if he had in fact died. They also provided their DNA samples after hearing of other parents who had been able to identify their deceased child with forensic analysis. Unfortunately, the last DNA match from the group of soldiers serving at the same time and in the same region as Artyom occurred almost a year earlier.

Karine and Hratch are convinced that Artyom is still alive and remain hopeful that he will one day return home. Speaking to UNHR, Karine said, “I can’t put into words how this has impacted our family. The only reason we haven’t lost our heads is because of our other son. Our hope is what is keeping us going at this point.” However, this hope is waning, as the institutions created to serve them have failed time and time again.

“There isn’t a door we haven’t knocked on. We’ve done everything we know to do. We don’t know what to do or where to go now.”

A recent breakthrough – Armenia's creation of the Interdepartmental Commission on Issues of Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons on October 20, 2022 – is an important advance.²⁷ The Commission could be a step towards effective oversight of Armenian authorities, ensuring that families of the missing receive timely and informative communication and support. Most importantly, the Commission, whose name conveys a recognition of the close relationship between missing persons and enforced disappearance, can serve to encourage Armenian leaders to continue the search for the disappeared, the pursuit of accountability, and the demand that Azerbaijan release all Armenian captives.

IV. Conclusion

The government of Azerbaijan has condoned, facilitated, and directly perpetrated enforced disappearances of Armenians during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and subsequent escalations in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Moreover, it highly likely that many, if not all, of the victims of enforced disappearances have also been victims of torture and arbitrary detention.

The existence of video footage and firsthand testimony indicating that individuals classified as missing persons were in fact in Azerbaijan's custody, in combination with Azerbaijan's obligation under the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to investigate disappearances, is incompatible with Azerbaijan's refusal to confirm or deny knowledge of these individuals' whereabouts. The international community should condemn the Azerbaijani leadership's support and participation in enforced disappearances in the strongest of terms and demand robust investigation and accountability.

Endnotes:

1. UN General Assembly, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 2, 23 December 2010, United Nations, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-protection-all-persons-enforced [hereinafter “CED”].

2. CED art. 1, 2, 3

3. CED art. 6, 7, 8, 9, 24

4. CED art. 2

5. UN General Assembly, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, art. 7, 17 July 1998, International Criminal Court, available at: https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf [hereinafter “Rome Statute”]

6. Name has been altered for security and privacy reasons.

7. Hagop, interview with UNHR, Armenia, March 17, 2022.

8. Hagop, interview.

9. Hagop, interview.

10. Hagop, interview.

11. Hagop, interview.

12. Names have been changed due to privacy and security concerns.

13. Mariam, interview with UNHR, Armenia, March 26, 2022.

14. Names have been changed for privacy and security reasons.

15. Aram Karapetyan, interview with UNHR, Yerevan, March 26, 2022.

16. University Network researchers independently reviewed the video.

17. International and Comparative Law Center, interview with UNHR, Yerevan, March 26, 2022.

18. Karapetyan, interview.

19. Name has been changed for privacy and security reasons.

20. Areg, interview with UNHR, Yerevan, March 2022.

21. Name has been changed for privacy and security reasons.

22. Varujan, interview with UNHR, Artashat, July 20, 2023.

23. Siranoush Sahakyan, interview with UNHR, Yerevan, March 2022.

24. UN Experts. 2021. “Nagorno-Karabakh: captives must be released – UN experts.” ohchr. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/02/nagorno-karabakh-captives-must-be-released-un-experts.

25. International Committee of the Red Cross. 2023. “Armenia։ Facts and Figures - January to December 2022.” ICRC. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/armenia-facts-and-figures-january-december-2022.

26. All names have been changed for security and privacy reasons.

27. The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia. 2022. “First Session of Interdepartmental Commission on Issues of Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing (Location Unknown) Persons Held at National Security Service of RA.” sns.am. https://www.sns.am/en/news/view/763.