Anna Hakobyan: Armenian side has strong positions in the ECHR related  to to captive Ghazaryan`s case 

ArmInfo. Wife of Acting Armenian Prime Minister Anna Hakobyan visited the family of Karen Ghazaryan, who is in captivity in Azerbaijan. This was announced by  the press secretary of Anna Hakobyan.

During the visit, Karen's mother noted that she wanted to send some clothes to her son besides the letter. Anna Hakobyan noted that the International Committee of  the Red Cross should find appropriate solutions on this issue. She  noted that Karen had health problems, and every day of his being in  captivity threatened his health and life. "We also have no clear  information about how they treat him there," Hakobyan said.

She told Ghazaryan's parents that recently Human Rights Defender  Arman Tatoyan addressed the United Nations High Commissioner for  Human Rights, as well as the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, on  Karen Ghazaryan's issue. Hakobyan expressed the hope that these  international structures will take concrete steps. According to her,  the case of Karen Ghazaryan at the ECHR is at the stage of waiting  for clarification from Azerbaijan. "Lawyers believe that we have  strong positions, at least considering that Ghazaryan is not a  saboteur or a terrorist. We presented evidence of health problems. In  my opinion, if all these structures work, and do what they should do,  then it is impossible not to reach a solution in this matter at a  certain stage".

On the question of whether there are methods of coercion for  exchange, Hakobyan noted that "we have appealed in the ECHR on  violation of a number of paragraphs of the Convention on Human Rights  in the case of Karen Ghazaryan. Based on the confidence of our  lawyers, the Armenian side is likely to win. This implies specific  sanctions against Azerbaijan. I think this is undesirable for the  Azerbaijani side. Sanctions, which will become a serious tool in our  hands for the return of Karen Ghazaryan, "she said. When asked  whether there was a proposal from the Azerbaijani side about the  exchange of prisoners, Hakobyan noted that she was not aware of this.  "I can guess what soil the Azerbaijani side is probing. But as far as  I know there is no international experience in exchanging war  criminals for civilians. In this case, such intentions can be called  cynical. People who serve their sentence in Armenia have been  sentenced for 16 years for killing a child. T is strange to raise  such an issue. Especially considering the fact that there was already  a sad story of the glorification of such criminals (advancement in  the rank of Ramil Safarov, who hacked Gurgen Margaryan with an ax)'".   To recall, Karen Ghazaryan, a resident of the village of Berdavan,  has been in Azerbaijani captivity since July of this year. Yesterday  his trial began.