European Court Refuses to Consider Appeal of Azeri Captives

STRASBOURG  — The European Court of Human Rights has refused to consider on a priority basis the case of Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, citizens of Azerbaijan serving sentence in Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani representative at ECHR, Chingiz Askerov, has announced Trend reports.

According to Askerov the court’s refusal to consider the appeal “is indicative of its non-objectivity.” He also added that the Azerbaijani government addressed the ECHR over this issue, but hasn’t received an answer yet.

Askerov added that the government of Azerbaijan has sent an inquiry to the European Court for further clarification. He said their families had applied to the Court back in 2014.

Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev were charged with espionage; unauthorized border trespass; kidnapping and violence against a minor, committed by an organized group; murder committed by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred; and attempt of murder of two persons, committed by an organized group. The actions of the subversive group left an underage resident of Karvachar region and a soldier killed and a woman wounded.

The Azeri saboteurs crossed the NKR border in July, 2014. The third commando, Hasan Hasanov, was killed, and his body was handed over to Baku.

On December 29, 2014, the First Instance General Jurisdiction Court of the NKR sentenced Askerov and Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison.