08:45,
YEREVAN, 17 JULY, ARMENPRESS: The situation in Lachin Corridor has long been beyond any legal framework․ Two prominent courts, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have delivered judgments and rulings ordering Azerbaijan to unblock the corridor, simultaneously rejecting Azerbaijan's counterclaims, however Azerbaijan is disregarding the decisions and the situation remains the same, jurist Artak Asatryan told ARMENPRESS.
On July 12, ECHR, after examining the request of the Armenian government to apply interim measures against Azerbaijan regarding the unblocking of the Lachin Corridor, decided to reaffirm the decision made on December 21, 2022. The December 21 ruling ordered Azerbaijan to ‘take all measures’ to ensure safe passage through the Lachin Corridor of seriously ill persons in need of medical treatment in Armenia and others who were stranded on the road without shelter or means of subsistence. The European Court of Human Rights reaffirmed the need of implementing the decision made of December 21, 2022 in the current situation, and emphasized it must be implemented by Azerbaijan.
“The decision of the ECHR is already within the scope of the powers of the EU Committee of Ministers, because the control over the judgments or decisions of that court is carried out by the given structure. In January, the committee of ministers, referring to the implementation of the decision made on December 21, noted problems and called on Azerbaijan to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Shortly after that, the UN International Court of Justice in February made a decision on an interim measure referring to the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, after the complaints raised by Armenia, and ordered Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin Corridor," Asatryan, an Associate Professor and Acting Head of the European and International Law Chair of YSU Faculty of Law, told ARMENPRESS.
In June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also addressed this issue by adopting a corresponding resolution. But factually even the International Committee of the Red Cross has had problems due to the actions of the Azerbaijani authorities.
Asatryan isn’t too optimistic regarding the resolution of the situation in the Lachin Corridor. The decision of ECHR was another instrument which didn’t change the situation.
Referring to the legal consequences the decision may have in the case of further destructive behavior by Azerbaijan, Asatryan noted that although Article 46 of the statute of the court includes a mechanism for initiating proceedings or procedures for breach of obligations, which refers to the execution of final judgments, it may not be possible to link it with the final judgment on the Lachin Corridor situation. The issue we are discussing was about applying an interim measure, therefore, it is difficult to say whether it is possible that the EU Committee of Ministers will apply to the court to discuss the issue of Azerbaijan's obligations implementation.
"Armenia showed that it took all legal action, applied to all the international institutes and courts to legally resolve the issue of the unblocking of Lachin Corridor, but Azerbaijan was simply not ready and is still not ready to settle the issue. However, Armenia taking all these actions, avoided criticism for not applying to international courts in advance. On the other hand, the decisions of the ECHR and the UN may serve as opportunities to be used against Azerbaijan in politics. The decisions can serve as a basis for negotiations or for preparation of documents made during them, stressing that Azerbaijan has not shown good will, so it is not excluded that there will be some political intervention to achieve the desired result, but this is a future matter," the expert of international law added.
Manvel Margaryan