Monitoring visits were conducted under the NPM Mandate of the Ombudsman

Regular visits to places where detained individuals cannot leave at their own will under the NPM Mandate of the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva, are continued.

Indeed, during the 44-day Second Karabakh War, the military-political leadership of Armenia, by involving different terrorist groups and mercenaries, has committed various war crimes in the territories of Azerbaijan in serious breaches of the norms and principles of international law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols thereto, the Hague Conventions, the United Nations Mercenary Convention, and the requirements of UNSC Resolutions 405 and 419.

Under Article 47 of Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, a mercenary does not have the right to combatant or prisoner of war status. In other words, the participation of mercenaries in an armed conflict is contrary to international humanitarian law.

According to Article subpara. (g) of 8 (bis) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was signed by Armenia, the sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein. 

Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva and NPG Members regularly conduct visits to the institutions where individuals from this category, who have been detained for crimes committed on Azerbaijani territory, are held. During these visits, the NPG members – a medical doctor and a psychologist, also participated.

During these visits, those detainees are received and listened to by Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva and NPG Members in private, and they are provided with legislative documents related to the application mechanisms in their native language and informed of their rights.

It has been observed that the necessary conditions, medical and psychological services, phone contact with family members, and other rights of these individuals are provided without any distinction. Unlike the treatment by Armenia towards Azerbaijani detainees, the interviewed people thanked for the created conditions, medical services, and nutrition, as well as the humane treatment they received in the institution where they are held.

It should be noted that the appeals and information documenting the recruitment of mercenaries by Armenia issued by the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan have been consistently submitted to international organizations.