Necessary legal measures are being taken in connection with Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev who were taken hostage by Armenian servicemen, Anar Baghirov, chairman of the Bar Association said on Wednesday.

The relevant materials and documents obtained have already been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), noted Baghirov, who is defending the rights of Azerbaijani hostages.

He said that the ECHR will speed up the consideration of the case of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev. “We can only hope for this. The ECHR has its own procedures. The matter here is just not unlawful imprisonment but also torture,” Baghirov said, stressing that the Azerbaijani hostages have serious health problems.

Baghirov said he believes the ECHR will hear the case of the Azerbaijani hostages in the coming months and pass a fair judgment.  

“The case of the Azerbaijani hostages is a matter affecting ECHR’s credibility. The ECHR must be principled in this matter,” he added.

In July of 2014, Russian citizen Dilgam Asgarov and Azerbaijani citizen Shahbaz Guliyev were taken hostage and another Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov was shot to death by Armenian servicemen while trying to visit their homeland in Kalbajar. Hasan Hasanov’s body was taken from the enemy and buried in Baku.

 On December 19, 2014, an illegal court of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh sentenced Dilgam Asgarov to life in prison and Shahbaz Guliyev to 22 years