Interfax – Russia & CIS General Newswire
September 6, 2018 Thursday 5:14 PM MSK
Baku lawyers plan to go to ECHR to get $2.5 bln from Armenia in compensation for 1980s deportations
BAKU. Sept 6
Baku lawyers plan to go to ECHR to get $2.5 bln from Armenia in compensation for 1980s deportations
The damage caused to Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia in 1988-1989 amounts to about $2.5 billion, the non-governmental organization Association of New Generation Lawyers of Azerbaijan (AYNHA) said.
"The value of the illegally appropriated property belonging to Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia amounts to about $2.5 billion," AYNHA told Interfax.
The organization said it came to this conclusion based on inquiries, research and archive data.
"The work done has determined that the yearly wages of the deported Azerbaijanis working at collective farms went to Armenians, some of the deported persons were unable to withdraw their savings from banks, and Azerbaijanis were forced to leave their private gardens and abandon their private property and assets. Armenians also misappropriated all property at the Azerbaijanis' private households," AYNHA said.
"The deportation of Azerbaijanis administered from one center was accomplished with the help of gangs of thugs and under control and with involvement of heads of district administrations in 1988-1989," it said.
"Pogroms were committed at the Azerbaijanis' homes to banish them, and their property was misappropriated," it said.
To restore the violated rights and have Armenia obliged to make up for the material and moral damage caused to the Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia, the organization will submit documents and materials it has collected on the matter to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and will make the international community aware of facts of seizure of Azerbaijanis' property, it said.
In this context, the organization has started a project to facilitate appeals to the ECHR to remedy the violation of the property rights of Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia in 1988, it said.
AYNHA urged the Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia to provide it with all available documents and facts so they can further be submitted to the ECHR.
The project is being implemented with financial support from the presidential NGO State Support Council.
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