Embassy of Azerbaijan in Austria Initiated Academic Conference at the University of Vienna on January 20th
The Embassy organized international law conference at University of Vienna
February 13th, 2026
At the initiative of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Austria, an academic conference entitled “Legal Perspectives on 20 January in the Context of the Prohibition of Collective Punishment under International Law” was held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna.
In his opening address, Ambassador Rovshan Sadigbayli stated that the former Soviet army had committed an unprecedented massacre against the Azerbaijani people, who had risen in pursuit of independence, sovereignty, national liberation, and territorial integrity. During that night, 147 individuals were killed, 744 were injured, and 841 were unlawfully detained. He underlined that these actions constituted a violation of the principle prohibiting collective punishment under international humanitarian law. The Ambassador further emphasized that the events of 20 January had not been subject to comprehensive legal and political assessment at the international level, underscoring the importance of examining them also from the perspective of international humanitarian law.
Professor Hans-Joachim Heintze (University of Bochum) analyzed the events of 20 January 1990 through the lens of international humanitarian law. He noted that the events should be considered in the broader context of the Azerbaijani people’s struggle for freedom and the unprecedented use of armed force by the Soviet government against the civilian population. In doing so, the Soviet authorities disregarded both the 1977 Constitution and several international legal instruments to which they were party, including the prohibition of the use of force and collective punishment as reflected in the Helsinki Final Act of 1975.
Dr. Gabriel Lansky, Austrian attorney-at-law, stated in his presentation that by employing armed force against its own citizens, the Soviet state had also violated their individual rights. Although the Soviet government sought to justify its actions on the basis of domestic legislation permitting the use of force in emergency situations, the international conventions to which it had acceded prohibited the use of force against a state’s own citizens even during a state of emergency. In his view, considerable efforts remained necessary to strengthen the effective protection of individual rights at the international level and to establish robust legal mechanisms to that end.
The conference was moderated by Professor August Reinisch (University of Vienna) and concluded with a panel discussion during which experts responded to questions from the audience.
