Chingiz Asgarov: Armenia should pay compensation, not evade responsibility

The inhabitants of Azerbaijan's Lachin district have come to their native places - the villages of Chiragli, Agbulag and Kamalli. These villages were destroyed during the Armenian occupation, so the feelings of these people are understandable, Chingiz Asgarov, plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the European Court of Human Rights, deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan, told Report.

He reminded that in 2005, these residents filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights in the case Chiragov and others v. Armenia: "The Azerbaijani state, acting as a third party in this case, provided all possible support to the plaintiffs, because this is the duty of the state."

In its decision of June 16, 2015 on this claim, the European Court of Human Rights noted that articles 8, 13 and 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the first article of Protocol No. 1 to this Convention were violated, he noted.

"However, so far, Armenia has not complied with this decision. That is, the Armenian government should have created a mechanism for all internally displaced persons so that the victims could apply for compensation. Through this mechanism, the Armenian state should consider compensation and pay it. But this is not happening."

"In addition, citizens have not been paid a small amount of compensation ordered by the European Court. We regularly raise this issue in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. We insist that Armenia should not evade responsibility and pay compensation according to the decision of the European Court."

Six people were recognized as victims by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 2015 in the case of “Chiragov and others v. Armenia”. These forced migrants recently visited their native Lachin district.