Armenian rights lawyer says lasting peace requires accountability for wartime abuses

An Armenian human rights lawyer has cautioned that efforts to advance peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan should not come at the expense of accountability for wartime abuses, arguing that justice and reconciliation are mutually reinforcing.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Hasmik Harutyunyan, a legal representative for the applicants in the case V.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), criticized discussions surrounding the potential withdrawal of interstate complaints filed by Armenia against Azerbaijan as part of broader normalization efforts between the two countries.

“I do not believe that peace and justice are contradictory concepts that negate one another,” Harutyunyan said. She argued that the cases and the factual findings they may produce should instead strengthen and support the peace efforts.

Harutyunyan contended that abandoning the proceedings would effectively mean relinquishing the pursuit of accountability for serious human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan during and after the conflicts.

She pointed to a recurring pattern of abuses by Azerbaijani forces, including beheadings, torture of both military personnel and civilians, and systematic violations affecting cultural and historical heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Withdrawal of these claims would, in practice, amount to a renunciation of those violations and of justice itself,” she said.

According to Harutyunyan, a durable and dignified peace requires formal acknowledgment of grave rights violations, recognition of victims’ suffering and the implementation of meaningful mechanisms for restitution and compensation.

Without such measures, she argued, any peace settlement would risk lacking the foundations necessary for long-term stability.