The Plight Of Prisoners In Shusha’s Prison Revealed

Azerbaijani journalist Anastasia Lavrina recently created a short documentary about what life was like for Azerbaijani prisoners inside of Shusha’s notorious prison titled: “Karabakh Portraits: Shusha Prison and Its Prisoners.” In the documentary, aired on Azerbaijan’s national TV network, she highlighted the inhumane manner in which Armenia treated Azerbaijani civilians and prisoners of war inside of that notorious prison.

As Lavrina noted in the documentary, “Shusha’s prison was built in the nineteenth century. During the Soviet period, the most dangerous criminals in the USSR were brought here. When the Azerbaijani city of Shusha was occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces in 1992, the place was turned into a terrible place of torture for Azerbaijani civilians and prisoners of war.”

According to her, “A two story building with high security fences, a huge gate, and a capacity of holding 350 people, Shusha Prison deserves special attention for its presence in the urban space and its architecture and place in history. The Shusha Prison was built during the Tzarist period and functioned as a closed correctional facility for many years. When the Armenians controlled the facility, they mercilessly killed and maimed many Azerbaijani citizens here within these walls.”

“It is terrible to remember how we were treated and in what conditions we were kept,” one prisoner related. “Every day I spent in the Shusha prison, I thought about death. Prisoners were tortured by guards for their own pleasure. They did not even want to get any information. Aside from the prisoners of war, there were also civilians, women, children and old men, who were tortured.”