Thread by @astroehlein

Human Rights Watch has analyzed video showing the extrajudicial execution of at least 7 #Armenian POWs, apparently by #Azerbaijani forces.

"Killing soldiers who have surrendered is a heinous war crime." - @HughAWilliamson

Read more: hrw.org/news/2022/10/1…

The killings took place during fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that broke out in mid-September, when Azerbaijan made incursions into Armenia and along the border.

The fighting was one of several breakdowns of the Russia-brokered 2020 truce that ended hostilities over the unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

.@HRW verified the 40-second video through a variety of techniques, including by consulting with weapons and medical experts, analyzing the language heard in the video, and using reverse search image engines to establish if the video had been posted online before mid-September.

The earliest appearance online of the video was on Telegram, posted just before midnight CET on October 1. It shows at least 15 soldiers, who appear to be Azerbaijani, rounding up a group of eight unarmed men wearing Armenian military uniforms.

The camouflage pattern on the soldiers’ uniforms is consistent with the Azerbaijani army, but no insignia are recognizable.

One soldier in an apparent Azerbaijani uniform is also wearing what appears to be a backpack with a radio in it, which further corroborates findings that they are Azerbaijani forces.

19 seconds into the video, one soldier starts to fire with a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle into the group of unarmed men seated on the ground. A shout of “don’t shoot,” (vurma in Azeri) is heard just after the shooting starts. At least two other soldiers join in the shooting.

The shooting is at close range and lasts for an initial 12 seconds. Sporadic rifle fire continues thereafter until the end of the video.

The shooting appears to kill at least seven of the men.

.@HRW analyzed satellite imagery taken on September 13 and 14 from this location and applied a variety of techniques, including 3D modeling, geolocation, and photogrammetry, which involves taking measurements using photography to establish exactly where the video was recorded.

Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify the exact location of the executions.

On October 2, a Twitter account reported that the location of the executions was between Mount Mets Ishkhanasar and Small Ishkhanasar Mountain, close to Lake Sev, on Armenia’s southeastern border with Azerbaijan. @hrw contacted the account owner to request information.

The account owner replied to ask why Human Rights Watch was reaching out but did not reply to any questions.

An investigation conducted by the French newspaper Libération, published on October 5, found that the video had been filmed along the same ridge identified by the Twitter account.
liberation.fr/checknews/exec…

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, requires parties to an international armed conflict to treat POWs humanely in all circumstances.

The Third Geneva Convention governs the treatment of prisoners of war, effective from the moment of capture. It protects POWs “particularly against acts of violence or intimidation, and against insults and public curiosity.”

It is a war crime to willfully kill, mistreat, or torture POWs, or to willfully cause great suffering or serious injury to body or health.

In addition to being bound by customary international law on human rights and humanitarian law, #Azerbaijan is a party to the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The last two strictly forbid extrajudicial killings.

These soldiers had been captured and laid down their arms.

Their captors had an obligation to treat them humanely, and instead it appears that Azerbaijani forces shot them in cold blood.

Now, they need to be held accountable.