Lawyers see war crime attributes in beheading Armenian soldier

A group of lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe that the fact of cutting off the head of an Armenian soldier should be proved by international experts within the inquiry into the incident as a war crime.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 18, Arman Tatoyan, the Armenian Ombudsperson, reported that a man who introduced himself as an Azerbaijani military had posted a photo of a decapitated Armenian soldier on the Facebook. Tatoyan also posted a photo of the victim, but the head in the photo is smeared, making it impossible to determine whether the man dressed in a military uniform had been actually beheaded.

Cutting off one's head in the battlefield is a war crime, Akhmed Sheriev, a lawyer and the chairman of the Moscow Bar Association "Sheriev and Partners", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, such crimes can be investigated at international platforms – at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Hague Tribunal. "In order to prove the fact of beheading, the court sets up an independent group of international experts, which studies and gives an answer to the question on whether the head was cut off or not," he has explained.

Evgeny Chernousov, a lawyer and retired colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), has also pointed out that the decapitation of a soldier is a war crime. "There are laws on treating prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead. If a beheading occurs in the battlefield, it is undoubtedly a war crime. The Hague Tribunal should deal with the case; and Armenian authorities should apply there," Mr Chernousov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 25, 2020 at 12:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.