Arega and Edward Shahgeldyan lived in the village of Avetaranos, in Artsakh’s Askeran region, when Azerbaijan attacked on September 27, 2020.

The couple refused to leave their home, convinced that Azerbaijani forces would never reach the village. On October 27, Azerbaijani soldiers captured the two of them.

Mr. Shahgeldyan died while in Azerbaijani captivity. Arega was released on December 14, 2020.

Their daughter, Gohar, who lived in Shushi, called her parents daily, urging them to leave the village.  

Gohar's husband, Vladimir, visited the couple seral times, but was unable to convince them to leave Avetaranos.

 "In 1992, during the first Artsakh war, residents of all regions of Artsakh came to Avetaranos, convinced that it was safe in our village. My father thought so until the end," says Gohar.

Arega Shahgeldyan recalls the day Azerbaijani troops entered the village.

It was October 27. The Azerbaijanis had already reached Avetaranos. Most residents had already fled. Arega was putting wood in the stove when she looked up and saw two Azerbaijani soldiers. They told her not to move. She began to cry, and the soldiers said they wouldn’t kill her.  They turned the house upside down, taking the couple’s life savings. The soldiers took them to a neighbor’s barn for the night.

In the morning, the soldiers took the couple to another house at the end of the village where the Azerbaijanis had slaughtered several lambs and were cooking a meal

"We were sitting at the end of the house. They placed a bowl of khashlama (stew) in front of us. We didn't eat. They ate and drank, as if they were having fun. We didn't know what they were going to do with us. They were armed. They took us to Baku in the morning," Arega recalls.

On October 29, the Shahgeldyans and two Armenian men captured in the village were taken to Baku.

Edward Shahgeldyan

Arega says that her husband and the fellow villagers were beaten in the car, kicked, and hit with a rifle butt.

Arega only saw he husband once while held in Azerbaijan.

"We saw each other with the intervention of the Red Cross. He told me to stay strong,” Arega says.

They were kept in different cells in the Baku prison, despite Red Cross assurances to Gohar that her parents were together, in no danger, being treated well and were given their blood pressure medication.

Gohar wrote letters to her parents, giving them to the Red Cross for delivery, but Arega says not a single letter reached her.

On December 5, Edward Shahgeldyan died while in a Baku prison cell. The news is reported to Arega.

On December 14, Arega was transferred to Armenia with a group of prisoners. The family was informed that Edward’s body was being transported to Armenia, but another body was sent instead.

Edward's son-in-law Vladimir went to identify the body.

"They didn't let me go, but Vladik went to identify the body. He saw that my father was not there. They said it was the only body sent back. We somehow located my father's body with the help of human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan," says Gohar.

On December 27, Gohar received a telephone call and was told her father’s body had been shipped to Armenia and was being held at the morgue of Yerevan’s medical university.

Gohar says Armenian medics told the family that Edward Shahgeldyan died of cardiac arrest.  Vladimir says the body was covered with bruises and that the man’s jaw had been broken.

Siranush Sahakyan, who represents Armenian POWs at the European Court of Human Rights, says Arega was subjected to psychological and physical violence while held in a Baku prison and that Mr. Shahgeldyan died from the beatings he suffered while in prison.

Siranush Sahakyan provided Hetq with the results of a forensic examination, showing traces of violence on the corpse.

P.S. The Shahgeldyan family now lives in a relative's house in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh. The family must vacate the premises on July 10, as the house will be sold.