Azerbaijan calls for international probe into videos showing torture of Azerbaijani servicemen

Azerbaijan urged international organizations Thursday to launch an investigation into videos posted on social media showing the torture of Azerbaijani prisoners of war by Armenians.

"A few days ago, in the Shahbuz region of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic along the border with Armenia, soldiers of the Azerbaijani army who went missing due to limited visibility caused by bad weather conditions -- Babirov Agshin Gabil, born in 2004, and Akhundov Huseyn Ahliman, born in 2003 -- were captured by Armenia," said a statement by Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry.

The statement said that cases of "physical torture" and "inhumane treatment" against Ahliman were depicted in one of the videos spread on social media networks.

It noted that relevant international organizations have been informed about the situation, saying it is another example of "violence on ethnic grounds by Armenia."

"The said violence demonstrated by Armenia against prisoners is a gross violation by Armenia of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and other international obligations arising from international humanitarian and human rights law," the statement said.

It said that relevant international organizations should investigate and "properly evaluate" the matter, including "the violence committed by Armenia against Azerbaijani prisoners of war and civilian prisoners and 3,890 missing Azerbaijanis over the past 30 years."

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of clashes, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.