French MP comments on Baku sham trials

ArmInfo.French MP Valerie  Boyer has posted the folloiwing message on her X account: 

"Their crime is that they are Armenians, and that is why the Aliyev  dictatorship kidnapped them, tortured them and organized Stalinist  trials over them. Alas, democracies are cowardly silent," reads the  post with a photo of Armenians held in Baku.

On January 17, under the chairmanship of Judge Zeynal Agayev, the  Baku Military Court began 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 will  be former Foreign Minister David Babayan, Parliament Speaker David  Ishkhanyan, former Commander of the Defense Army General Levon  Mnatsakanyan, General David Manukyan and former State Minister Ruben  Vardanyan.

On January 16, Vardanyan made a statement in which he demanded that  he and his lawyer be given the opportunity to fully prepare for their  defense; that all violations and falsifications be eliminated; that  his trial and that of all the other defendants be made public. "I  insist on a maximally open trial with the participation of  international journalists and representatives of humanitarian  organizations. I am convinced that only a real court, not a tribunal,  will help take a step forward on the difficult path of building new  relations between our peoples," he emphasized. 

In conclusion, he demanded that his case be combined with the cases  of the other defendants. "More than 400 volumes of my case out of 422  are episodes of a common case. Separating my case into a separate  proceeding is an artificial and unfounded decision," Vardanyan added.