Protesters demand immediate return of abducted Artsakh resident 

ArmInfo.Protesters who gathered in fronts of the ICRC office in Yerevan are demanding that  the ICRC ensure the return of 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, who was abducted by Azerbaijanis on July 29. 

In a conversation with reporters, Vagif Khachatryan's daughter, a  native of Artsakh Vera Khachatryan, who has been living in Jermuk for  the past three years due to the fact that she became an internally  displaced person from the Kashatagh region of Nagorno-Karabakh, said  that on the other side of the bridge across the Akari River, she is  one of all family members are left alone in Armenia, brothers and  sisters, mother, all relatives and friends are in Artsakh. "All my  hope for my father's return is you, every one of you. Please don't  leave me alone in this pain. Vagif Khachatryan is the image of the  entire Armenian people, and I ask you to be with me on the issue of  the return of my father," she said. 

She said that on July 29 Vagif Khachatryan was supposed to be  transferred with the assistance and accompanied by representatives of  the ICRC to one of the clinics in Armenia for urgent heart surgery.  "My sister accompanied him. When we arrived at the Akari bridge, the  Azerbaijanis began to check their passports. When they took my  father's passport, they did not give it back. They said that it was  necessary to go to a separate room in which Khachatryan would be  examined by a doctor. After that, the father was taken away," Ms  Khachatryan noted, adding that there were other patients who were let  in, but her father was kidnapped. She noted that there is still no  connection with her father, just as there is no information.  Later  it was reported that her father was in hospital in Baku.

Vera Khachatryan denied reports that Vagif Khachatryan was the driver  of the ex-Minister of Defense of Artsakh Samvel Babayan. "This is a  lie, and I ask you not to use the name of the father, distinguished  by balance, for any other purpose," Mr Khachatryan said.

It should be noted that on July 29, 68-year-old resident of Artsakh  Vagif Khachatryan was abducted and illegally detained by Azerbaijan  at an illegally installed checkpoint in the Lachin corridor.  Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross  visited him the same day. <Our representatives met with him,  including a doctor. The patient was given the opportunity to contact  the family>, according to the ICRC.

Following the incident, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  Nagorno-Karabakh issued a statement reading:  

"On 29 July, a 68-year-old citizen of the Republic of Artsakh, who  was being transported to Armenia for medical treatment under the  supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),  was abducted by representatives of Azerbaijan from the checkpoint  illegally established in the Lachin Corridor.  The passage of the  citizen of Artsakh was agreed in advance through the mediation of the  ICRC.

"The illegal arrest of a citizen of Artsakh, being under the  protection of the international law and the ICRC mandate ,  constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law  and human rights, provisions of the Trilateral Statement of 9  November 2020 and legally binding Orders of the International Court  of Justice and ECtHR, and clearly demonstrates the true intentions of  Azerbaijan towards the people of Artsakh. It is evident that if  Azerbaijan's policy of forced subjugation of Artsakh, which Baku  presents to the international community as its resolution  plan,  succeeds, abductions, illegal detentions, extrajudicial killings,  enforced disappearances and other massive violations of the rights of  Artsakh Armenians will become widespread.

"In case of the control over the citizens of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani  authorities will not miss the opportunity to subject them to illegal  detention, torture, deprive them of their lives or violate their  human rights in any other way. If falling under the control of  Azerbaijan, the Armenians of Artsakh have practically no chance of  survival and humane treatment. Thirty-eight civilians who fell in  hands of the Azerbaijani military during the aggression against  Artsakh in 2020 have already become victims of this inhumane policy  of Azerbaijan. All of them were tortured and brutally killed. Three  other  civilians, as well as three police officers and twenty-one  military personnel of the Republic of Artsakh, were killed by  Azerbaijan after the war and the signing of the trilateral ceasefire  statement of 9 November 2020.

"The abduction of a civilian is yet another example of Azerbaijan's  state policy of widespread and systematic violations of the rights of  Artsakh's residents directly arising from  the establishment of an  illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, which has become an  instrument of intimidation of the Armenians of Artsakh, infringement  of their rights and dignity, as well as an excuse for committing war  crimes.  Having subjected the people of Artsakh to starvation and  other hardships for almost eight months, deliberately and arbitrarily  depriving them of the right to receive humanitarian relief, the  Azerbaijani authorities have now resorted to persecuting vulnerable  citizens of Artsakh on an individual level.

"We demand that all involved international actors, including the  ICRC, take urgent and effective measures to immediately release and  repatriate the abducted citizen of Artsakh, put an end to crimes  against humanity committed by Azerbaijan against the people of  Artsakh, as well as prevent the escalation of these violations into  the crime of genocide. We consider it imperative to consolidate the  efforts of all involved actors for a complete and unconditional  cessation of the blockade and the establishment of a long-term  international mechanism to protect the rights and security of the  people of Artsakh from Azerbaijan's genocidal policies.

"We insist that the issue of the ongoing, nearly 8-month-long illegal  blockade, carried out as part of Azerbaijan's state policy of  annihilation of the people of Artsakh as such, be promptly addressed  by the United Nations Security Council. We call upon the  International Committee of the Red Cross, as the only international  organisation present on the ground and endowed with the relevant  international mandate, to urgently express its public position and  provide the international community, particularly the member states  of the UN Security Council, with detailed factual and legal  information regarding the situation in Artsakh and Azerbaijan's  actions."