Armenia's rulers treat their citizens with much inhumanity
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
Armenian law enforcers launched a criminal case against a family which fled to Azerbaijan 5 years ago and was handed over back to Armenia in 2014.
According to the Armenian National Security Service, a case has been opened against Yegishe Gevorkyan and Ruzanna Mardanyan based on Part 1 of Article 329 of the Armenian Criminal Code - crossing the Armenian state border without established documents or relevant permit.
Baku was rather critical of the move as it flies in the face of human rights law and conventions.
Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev said such criminal prosecution against the Gevorkyans family stands testimony to Armenia's lack of humanity. He noted how Armenia's dictatorship has repressed and oppressed its own people.
The Gevorkyans fled from Armenia to Azerbaijan in 2010 to escape, what they have called “an unbearable life in Armenia." The family hoped to find shelter in a third country. But the family failed to receive asylum in a third country and subsequently refused to return to their homeland, fearing repression.
Hajiyev said Gevorkyan was denied entry into a third country because of his criminal past. So, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross he was returned to Armenia on December 12, 2014.
According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, Yegishe Gevorkyan has eight convictions for robbery, car theft and other crimes.
Hajiyev noted that following Yegishe Gevorkyan's voluntary flee to Azerbaijan with his family members to escape the terrible situation and extreme poverty they faced in Armenia, Azerbaijan created all necessary condition to keep the family. The ICRC has regularly visited the family.
"Having endured physical and psychological torture by the hands of the Armenian intelligence agencies after their handover, Yegishe Gevorgyan and his family members were forced to make several public statements against Azerbaijan. The worst thing is that Armenia does not even hesitate to misuse infants in its vile propaganda,” Hajiyev added.
Three days after the handover, the Gevorkyans slandered Azerbaijan, playing directly into Yerevan' slanderous narrative against Baku.
The Armenian authorities used the family's "heart touching" cry to portray Azerbaijan as a "guillotine" country, where outlanders are punished and tortured brutally.
Psychologist in Azerbaijan, Ibrahim Ibrahimov told AzerNews that the family’s confessions it had been subjected to torture are not reliable. He noted that discussing openly such a traumatic experience is not easy, and that ego plays a role of self-defense. "Since a human being cannot present himself or herself as miserable and humiliated as not to loose his or her status in society, it is logical to assume the family was coerced into confessing."
Recalling the case of Azerbaijani hostages in Armenia, Hajiyev said Armenia took hostages Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev and brutally killed Hasan Hasanov who visited the graves of his parents in their native land.
"A so-called trial of Asgarov and Guliyev undermined the international humanitarian law that bans such a behavior against civilians."
Asgarov and Guliyev were captured in the Shaplar village of Azerbaijan’s occupied Kalbajar district on July 11, 2014 by the Armenian special forces. They were judged in a show trial in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. Asgarov was sentenced to life in prison and Guliyev to 22 years in jail.
Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation. Nonetheless, the OSCE has attempted to foster a peaceful resolution to this conflict amid Armenia's insistence to derail peace.
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