ArmInfo.The Baku trial of Armenian prisoners is nothing more than a farce for political purposes. International law expert, lawyer Ara Ghazaryan, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
On June 3, the case of 14 Armenian prisoners of war was transferred to the Baku Grave Crimes Court. The captured Armenian servicemen in the Artsakh village of Khtsaberd were charged with terrorism with the use of firearms and objects used as weapons, as well as illegal border crossing. According to human rights activists, about 200 Armenians are still in captivity in Azerbaijan. "Taking into account the articles on which the charges were brought, we understand that the process of returning our guys can take a long time. I am very concerned that the process against our prisoners is taking place behind closed doors. This speaks of the most severe control over the court, which in turn testifies to the fact that this whole farce is built on a legend, "he stressed.
Meanwhile, an open, public process, according to the lawyer, is a fundamental human right. First of all, due to the fact that it is publicity that enables the defendants and accused to avoid arbitrariness of the courts in cases when the process is going on in a vacuum. Ghazaryan considers the absence of any information about what is generally going on behind the doors of the court in Baku as a direct confirmation that there is not a court in Azerbaijan, but a farce. He is also convinced that in the event of a public trial, Azerbaijani legends about Armenian terrorists will collapse in parallel with the opening of the court doors. In general, according to the lawyer, Baku today uses illegally held Armenian prisoners for its own political purposes. It is about Azerbaijan's aspiration to gain from Armenia, moreover, documented, new territorial concessions in the process of demarcation and delimitation of borders. In this light, in Ghazaryan's opinion, the prisoners are mentioned by Azerbaijan in the negotiations solely as a lever for resolving political issues. Otherwise, the solution of the problem of prisoners from a legal point of view does not contain any special problems - the prisoners simply have to return to their homeland.
"Moreover, I am convinced that Azerbaijan continues to provoke new clashes on the border and capture new Armenian military precisely in order to gain new levers of influence on the negotiation process. In general, border demarcation is a rather complicated and long process. There is a need to reach agreement, create working groups, permanent monitoring bodies and only after that start, in fact, work. And, as far as I understand, Baku decided to stimulate this work in accordance with their ideas about demarcation, international politics, humanitarian law and justice, "summed up Ghazaryan.