Azerbaijan sentenced Karen Avanesyan to 16 years in prison for  failing to comply with binding ECHR ruling - human rights activist 

ArmInfo.  Azerbaijan failed to comply with the binding urgent preventive measure imposed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), resulting in the whereabouts,  health, and conditions of detention of Armenian citizen Karen  Avanesyan remaining unknown to this day. Furthermore, under these  circumstances, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a so-called  Azerbaijani court without any reliable information about whether he  received a fair trial or other fundamental rights during the trial.  This was written by human rights activist and lawyer Ara Ghazaryan on  his Facebook page.

He recalled that, under the urgent measure imposed by the European  Court of Human Rights, the Azerbaijani government was obliged to  ensure the protection of Karen Avanesyan's physical and mental  health, provide the court and its representatives with information  about his whereabouts and health, and ensure his unimpeded  communication with his family and legal representatives. However,  these obligations have not yet been fulfilled, significantly impeding  the effective conduct of the proceedings before the ECHR and raising  serious doubts about the existence of threats to his life and safety.

"The situation in Karen Avanesyan's case arose after Azerbaijani  media, citing the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported  on September 14, 2025, that he had been arrested in the occupied city  of Stepanakert. According to these sources, Avanesyan was arrested  when he allegedly attempted to approach the site of an event in  Stepanakert with a weapon. During his arrest, he offered armed  resistance, resulting in a gunshot wound from return fire. Along with  this information, video footage was distributed showing Karen  Avanesyan lying on the ground, bleeding," the human rights activist  recalled.

Kazaryan noted that, given the real risk of irreversible harm to the  latter's life and fundamental rights, on September 17, 2025, lawyers  Ara Kazaryan and Anastasia Makaryan, acting on a power of attorney  from Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan, the Artsakh Union, and other  relevant individuals, filed an application with the European Court of  Human Rights requesting an urgent preventive measure under Article 39  of its Rules of Procedure. On September 18, 2025, the ECHR forwarded  the application to the government of Azerbaijan, ordering it to  immediately provide the requested information.

The lawyer noted that on October 20, 2025, the ECHR fully granted the  application for a preventive measure, ordering Azerbaijan to take  specific measures to ensure Karen Avanesyan's physical and mental  health, regularly provide the court with information on these  measures, and ensure his contact with his relatives and  representatives. "However, since the aforementioned decision, the  Azerbaijani government has failed to comply with the ECHR's decision  to apply urgent measures. Karen Avanesyan has not contacted his  representatives or relatives for over two months, and the limited  information provided about his health and detention conditions does  not inspire confidence," the human rights activist added.

Khazaryan noted that despite the above circumstances and the obvious  failure to comply with the binding decision of the international  court, on December 25, 2025, the Ganja Grave Crimes Court of  Azerbaijan sentenced Karen Avanesyan to 16 years in prison. "No  information about the verdict was provided to his representatives or  the ECHR, nor is there information about the criminal case brought  against him, the scope of the charges, or the progress of the trial.  Furthermore, information about the aforementioned trial is available  exclusively from limited sources circulating in the Azerbaijani  press. There is a lack of reliable and verifiable information about  the legal basis of the trial, the factual circumstances of the case,  or guarantees of Karen Avanesyan's procedural rights and right to a  fair trial. Under these circumstances, the urgent preventive measure  applied by the European Court of Human Rights remains unimplemented  by the Azerbaijani authorities," the lawyer stated.

It should be noted that Avanesyan, who was sentenced to 15 years in  prison, has serious mental health issues.