Armenian MP urges OSCE PA to send mission to Baku to observe trial of  Armenian prisoners 

ArmInfo. Lilit Galstyan, a member of the National Assembly from the opposition faction  "Armenia", speaking at the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, proposed sending an OSCE PA monitoring mission to Baku to observe the judicial farce against Armenian captives and the  military-political leadership of Artsakh. 

In her speech, received by the ArmInfo agency, the MP expressed  serious concern about the Armenian hostages, including the political  leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh, who are currently being held in  Azerbaijan. These individuals, as Galstyan noted, were mostly  captured after Azerbaijan's aggression in September 2023, which led  to the forced displacement of 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

"The trials that began in January 2025 are of immediate concern. The  trials have raised serious questions about Azerbaijan's commitment to  ensuring fair trials, despite its obligations under the European  Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil  and Political Rights. The current situation presents several worrying  violations.

"In particular, there is compelling evidence that the detainees were  tortured. They are charged with terrorism solely on the basis of  their Armenian ethnicity. Despite Baku's claims of an open trial,  access to any international organizations, including the media, is  denied. Ruben Vardanyan, a world-renowned philanthropist with no  military background, is facing a military court with a possible  sentence of up to 200 years in prison. He has been given only limited  access to his case file, which is in Azerbaijani. As you know, the  Copenhagen Document of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the  CSCE (1990) expressly requires OSCE member states to allow  international observers from other member states and NGO  representatives to attend trials.

Azerbaijan, as an OSCE member, has obligations under these  provisions. In view of these circumstances, I formally request the  OSCE to send international observers to monitor these trials. This  action will serve several purposes: to ensure compliance with  international legal standards, transparent oversight of trials, to  demonstrate the commitment of the international community to the  protection of human rights, to send a signal that violations of  international law will not go unnoticed or unclaimed," the MP noted.

She believes that the OSCE's intervention in this case will send a  clear signal that the international community will not remain silent  in the face of human rights violations, and that Azerbaijan's actions  will be held accountable.

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 Defense Army Commander General Levon Mnatsakanyan,  General David Manukyan and former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan.

Earlier, Ruben Vardanyan made a statement in which he announced the  start of a hunger strike in protest against the trial taking place in  Baku.