Show trials in Azerbaijan follow-up to systemic Armeniphobia - ANC

ArmInfo. The Armenian National Congress (ANC) expresses unconditional support to the former leaders of Artsakh: Presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Speaker of the National Assembly David  Ishkhanyan, State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, Commander of the Defense  Army Levon Mnatsakanyan, Deputy Defense Minister David Manukyan,  Foreign Minister David Babayan, illegally captured and held hostage  in Azerbaijan, reads a statement by the ANC. 

The document emphasizes that other compatriots who are in prison are  also subjected to cruel persecution and torture by the Azerbaijani  authorities simply because they exercise the right of the people of  Artsakh to self-determination. "The legal process of realizing the  fundamental right of self-determination of one's own people outside  Azerbaijan began and consistently continued precisely because the  Republic of Azerbaijan systematically violated the rights to life,  freedom and democracy of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and  its population, carrying out state-organized mass violence, as well  as conducting brutal military operations against the Armenian  population living not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also throughout  Azerbaijan (in February 1988 in Sumgait, in November in Kirovabad,  Khanlar, Shamkhor, in January 1990 in Baku, in 1991 during Operation  Ring in 24 settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh, (in 1992 in the Mardakert  and Martuni regions of Shahumyan and Nagorno-Karabakh). The leaders  of Artsakh were illegally captured by Azerbaijan in September 2023,  which is a gross violation of international norms and commitments  undertaken by Azerbaijan, at the very time when Baku, in violation of  all agreements reached during the negotiations under the auspices of  the OSCE and the trilateral statement of November, on September 9,  2020, committed one of the greatest war crimes against the Armenian  people: the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Armenians of  Artsakh, the history of which goes back thousands of years," the  statement said.

Its authors note that the trial undertaken by the Azerbaijani  government is a continuation of systemic Armenophobia and state  ideology. The Azerbaijani authorities persecute even their own  citizens and massively violate their democratic rights. According to  international human rights organizations, there are currently more  than 200 political prisoners in this country. The trial of Armenians,  the statement notes, is a mockery of justice, devoid of any  legitimacy. Law enforcement agencies and courts operating in  Azerbaijan are merely instruments in the hands of the authorities to  carry out repressions, which are ready to achieve any result  prescribed by the authorities through falsifications, violence,  torture, false threats and various other illegal actions. Therefore,  any "document" or "testimony" presented during these trials, as well  as any conclusion of the "judicial" body will have no credibility and  legitimacy.

"We condemn any accusations or criticism voiced during public debates  in Armenia against our compatriots who have become hostages in the  hands of Azerbaijan and are being tortured in the context of this  "trial". We should not be interested in what they say under inhuman  pressure, but only in their lives, health and safe return to their  homeland. The silence and inaction of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair  countries - the United States, France and Russia - regarding the fate  of the captured leaders of Nagorno- Karabakh are unacceptable. They  should first demand the release of those whom they have recognized as  legitimate partners in all negotiations since the 1992 OSCE Helsinki  meeting and begin a dialogue with them on behalf of the bodies  representing the international community. However, even more  unacceptable is the obvious and absolute indifference of the Armenian  authorities to the fate of the captured leaders of Artsakh. Armenia  is obliged to publicly speak out in their defense, make the issue of  their release one of the mandatory demands on the agenda of  Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation and peace. The Armenian  authorities should have addressed this issue to the international  community, the OSCE Minsk Group countries, and also raised this issue  in the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Parliament, in  particular, demonstrating the inalienable right to a fair trial  guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights,"  the ANC statement reads.

As ArmInfo reported earlier, on January 17, under the chairmanship of  Judge Zeynal Agayev, the Baku Military Court is considering the  "indictment" against the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Among  the accused are three former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh: Arkady  Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan and Arayik Harutyunyan. Also appearing  before the court are former Foreign Minister David Babayan,  Parliament Speaker David Ishkhanyan, former Defense Army Commander  General Levon Mnatsakanyan, General David Manukyan and former State  Minister Ruben Vardanyan.