When he arrives at his father’s house to tell him to flee the village, this October 10, 2020, it is already too late. The Azerbaijani soldiers are there in the courtyard of the house. Sasha Gharakhanyan, a 71-year-old Armenian pensioner, and her son Arsen, 44, who volunteered at the front, were both captured and then taken to the central square of Hadrut. The streets are deserted. Only the Azerbaijani forces remain, on the verge of reconquering the region, around the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The captives are brought in small groups to the square. “My father saw several people having their throats cut, then he was severely beaten on the feet, on the back, behind the neck and on the head, tell the World Sasha Gharakhanyan’s daughter, Marina, from her home in Stepanakert, the capital of the separatist enclave. He had broken ribs. Then they slashed his hand, tied it to his foot, and hung him up like that, until he passed out. “
When he regains consciousness, the old man is in a cell in Baku with five other detainees. No trace of his son. Almost two months passed before he received a visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The man was released and repatriated to Yerevan shortly thereafter, on December 14, along with 43 other military and civilian prisoners. On the same day, Armenia returns to Baku the 12 Azerbaijani detainees captured during the war, in accordance with the ceasefire commitments signed on November 9, 2020, which seals Armenia’s humiliating defeat and provides for the exchange of prisoners. between the two countries, according to the principle of “All for all”.
“We can’t trust them”
Arsen Gharakhanyan did not resurface until three weeks later, on January 6, in a video broadcast on TikTok. The platform, popular with teenagers, is used by Azerbaijani soldiers to post short footage filmed with the prisoners. On this day, the Gharakhanyan family is gathered at their home for the grandmother’s birthday. It is the grandchildren, connected to TikTok, who recognize their loved one. “It’s uncle! It’s uncle! “
On the video, that The world was able to consult, the Azerbaijani soldiers ask him to repeat “Goodbye Chouchi”, “Karabakh is Azerbaijani”, “Azerbaijanis are the best”, and “Pachinian [le premier ministre arménien] is a queer “. Arsen Gharakhanyan has a thin face and eaten by a thick beard, but he is alive.
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