Artsakh HRD Gegham Stepanyan wrote on his Facebook page.
“On August 28, the regular transfer of civilians from Artsakh to Armenia was carried out under the accompaniment of Russian peacekeeping troops. According to preliminary information, 170 people were transported under the escort of peacekeeping troops.
Around 1:00 p.m., people moving to Armenia reached the Azerbaijani illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, near the Hakar Bridge.
According to the information obtained by the human rights defender’s office, Alen Nelson Sargsyan, born in 2001, was abducted and taken to an unknown direction by the representatives of the Azerbaijani border guard and other services using force and coercion.
Apart from that, representatives of the Azerbaijani border guard and other services took five more people from Artsakh to RA to a room near the checkpoint for questioning. During the interrogation, various questions were asked: the occupation in sports, the purpose of going to Armenia, the economic situation in Armenia and Artsakh, etc.
According to the obtained information, two more persons from the previously agreed lists, Vahe Hovsepyan and Levon Grigoryan, did not cross the illegal checkpoint. Still, it is not possible to contact them.
All three citizens are students of educational institutions of the Republic of Armenia.
We have repeatedly noted that the illegal checkpoint near the Hakar bridge is a direct and undeniable threat to the physical existence and protection of fundamental rights of the civilian population of Artsakh. The abduction of Vagif Khachatryan and Alen Sargsyan irrefutably proves that the so-called checkpoint has turned into a tool to serve Azerbaijani criminal arbitrariness, by which Azerbaijanis arbitrarily abduct civilians and deprive them of their freedom. A population of 120,000 is kept under siege, deprived of humanitarian access and the possibility of protection of fundamental human rights.
The international legal and political guarantees of both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers are insufficient to protect the rights of the people of Artsakh, including ensuring free and safe movement.
Considering the obligations assumed by those two actors, the Human Rights Defender requires them to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of the humanitarian movement of the people of Artsakh and the immediate return of the abducted persons. Without such guarantees, the transportation of civilians should be stopped.
The HRD staff continues to collect facts regarding the incident, about which we will issue an additional statement; the accumulated points will be summarized and presented to international organizations with a mandate to protect human rights and other international actors.
