First, Yerevan Must Comply with ECHR Decision «Chiragov and Others vs. Armenia» - L. Abdullayeva

Baku / 27.05.20 / Turan: Until the ECHR decision on the Chigarov vs. Armenia case of 2015 is enforced, official Yerevan has no moral right to put forward any demands on Azerbaijan regarding the implementation of the decisions of the Strasbourg court.

This opinion was expressed by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Leyla Abdullayeva, commenting on the decision of the ECHR “Makuchyan and Minasyan vs. Azerbaijan and Hungary”, published the day before, regarding the case of the murder of an Armenian military officer at the NATO officer courses in Budapest in 2004 by the Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov. Armenia’s intention to use the European court as an instrument in the slanderous campaign against Azerbaijan, and its attempts to politicize this institution and attract it to the propaganda campaign should be rejected, Abdullayeva said.

“As regards the findings of the European Court, it can be said the Court did not actually satisfy the basic intention of Armenia. Thus, the decision of the Court does not require the annulment of the decision on pardon, which is the main subject of the dispute, or the resumption of the case against the person concerned. On the other hand, the material claim for a material violation of the right to life article was rejected, ”the official representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry continued.

She also noted that "the essential aspect of Article 2 (the right to life) of the European Convention has not been violated by the Government of Azerbaijan." That is, according to the European Court, Ramil Safarov acted individually, and did not represent the government of Azerbaijan when committing the action. Thus, the Azerbaijani government cannot bear international legal responsibility for these actions.

At the same time, in the opinion of Abdullayeva, the decision should have reflected that Safarov, an officer of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, was born in August 1993 in the Jebrail region of Azerbaijan, occupied by the Armenian armed forces, lost his loved ones during the war, and as a teenager he knew all the hardships of IDP life. As for the immediate release of Safarov immediately after his extradition, the practice of pardon is widespread in the world and, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the head of state has the right to do so.

As Abdullayeva noted, the only way to put an end to hostility between the two peoples is to eliminate the consequences of the conflict, that is, to withdraw the occupying forces from the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and ensure the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of people displaced from these territories. Ramil Safarov was a victim of this policy, she added. “If Armenia really appreciates human rights and freedoms in the same way as the European Court of Justice declares and respects, then this country should immediately end the 30-year occupation of Azerbaijani lands and violation of the rights of more than one million of our compatriots. Also, until the implementation of the ECHR decision in the Chiragov case of 2015 is ensured, official Yerevan has no moral right to put forward any demands on our country in relation to the European Court,” Abdullayeva said.

* In 2015, the ECHR decided in the case of “Chiragov and Others vs. Armenia” on the application of 6 internally displaced persons from the Lachin region. The ECHR found violations of property rights, the right to respect for private and family life, and the right to effective legal protection of the applicants. The Strasbourg court found Armenia was responsible for this and obliged it to pay compensation to the victims. —06D-