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The head of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Human Rights Institute, a government-controlled Government-Organized Non-Governmental Organization (GONGO*), Ahmad Shahidov, has claimed that allegations of the torture and beheading of Armenian servicemen during the 2016 April War are false.
* GONGO stands for Government-Organized Non-Governmental Organization. It refers to an organization that is formally presented as an independent NGO but is in fact established, directed, funded, or controlled by a government. Such organizations are often used in international forums to promote or support official state positions while presenting themselves as an “independent civil society voice.”
Shahidov made the statement during the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Human Dimension Conference in Vienna, responding to remarks by Daniel Ioannisyan, Program Coordinator at the Union of Informed Citizens, representing Armenia.
In his statement, Ioannisyan referred to the beheadings of Armenian servicemen Hayk Toroyan and Kyaram Sloyan during the April War, noting that the Azerbaijani servicemen responsible for those acts have never been held accountable by Azerbaijan’s judicial system.
Notably, Shahidov merely dismissed the allegations as false without presenting any supporting evidence or explanation.
Meanwhile, in a judgment delivered on 18 June 2026, ten years after the Four-Day War, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that Azerbaijan had violated an Armenian serviceman’s right to life, the prohibition of torture, and had also caused suffering to his family members.
In effect, the international court confirmed that Major Hayk Toroyan had been subjected to torture.
The ECHR also ordered Baku to pay damages to his relatives and to identify and hold accountable both those who ordered and those who carried out the torture.
Consequently, the representative of the organization coordinated by the Baku regime is making a demonstrably false claim. The torture and beheading of an Armenian serviceman has now been confirmed by a judgment of an international court in one of the cases brought before it, while the Azerbaijani representative failed to present a single counterargument during the international conference.
Claims of “Humane Treatment” of Prisoners of War
Shahidov also asserted that Baku guarantees Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan the rights afforded to them under international conventions.
It should be recalled that evidence indicating the torture of Armenian prisoner of war Ruben Vardanyan, who is being held in a Baku prison, emerged online during one of the trials that have been ongoing since January 2025. In particular, bruises were visible on Vardanyan’s face during one of the court hearings.
The Azerbaijani side has provided no clear explanation regarding the incident either to Vardanyan’s legal representatives or to other interested parties.
Moreover, the lawyers representing Ruben Vardanyan, the former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, have filed legal motions before a Baku court, alleging that Vardanyan was subjected to torture and deprived of his right to a timely trial.
The lawyers have stated that, after Vardanyan announced his hunger strike, he was transferred to a standing cell, forced to remain standing, denied the opportunity to wash, and deprived of water for two days.
It should also be recalled that the ability of the defense team and international monitoring bodies to obtain comprehensive and objective information regarding both the proceedings and the conditions of custody remains limited.
One reason for this is that Azerbaijan is regarded as a country with limited transparency by a number of international monitoring mechanisms, and access to information concerning judicial proceedings is often incomplete or provided selectively.
Accordingly, the claim that Armenian prisoners of war are being held in proper conditions in Azerbaijan is neither convincingly supported nor substantiated by the available evidence.
Claims of “Thousands of Tortured Azerbaijanis” Without Supporting Evidence
At the same event, Nazrin Aliyeva, representing another organization coordinated by the official authorities in Baku, claimed that “thousands of Azerbaijanis” were tortured during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Notably, this claim is unsupported by concrete evidence, references to reports issued by reputable international human rights organizations or institutions, or judgments delivered by international courts.
The Azerbaijani speaker failed to cite even a single verified case of torture. In effect, her claim that thousands of Azerbaijanis were allegedly tortured is not supported by the evidence.
Nane Manasyan
