On June 5, one of Azerbaijan’s public television stations broadcasted a video in which it referred to Armenian prisoners of war. In the report, the Azerbaijani journalist talks to 5 Armenian prisoners of war. Regarding the video and its distribution, RA HRD considers it necessary to emphasize the following.
“Prisoners of war should not be made an object of public interest. such actions are expressly prohibited by Article 13 of the 3rd Geneva Convention. The ban pursues 2 main goals. respect the dignity of prisoners of war and protect them from any harassment during and after captivity.
Prisoners of war, being incarcerated, cannot freely form and express their consent to being videotaped and to the broadcast or distribution of videos with their participation.
As a result of the publication of data on prisoners of war and dissemination on social networks, they are additionally targeted by the public, as evidenced by the negative comments of Azerbaijani users on the video.
The defender calls on the Armenian media community to avoid distributing the videos taken from Azerbaijani sources about the Armenian prisoners of war, in order to keep them away from public interest.
The defender’s more detailed legal position on this issue has been sent to international partners, as well as to international structures with a mandate to protect human rights.”
