Committee for Preservation of Artsakh calls on UN Security Council,  EU, OSCE, US and Russia to impose targeted economic and visa  sanctions against Azerbaijani officials

ArmInfo. The Committee for the Preservation of Artsakh called on the UN Security Council, the EU,  the OSCE, the US and Russia to impose targeted economic and visa sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for organizing the legal farce against the military- political leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

As ArmInfo was informed by the press service of the Committee, this  call was a reaction to the publication of a 200-page indictment  prepared by the Azerbaijani prosecutor's office against the former  state minister of Artsakh, philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan. The  statement emphasizes that this accusation is directed not only  against Vardanyan, but also serves as a tool for further political  persecution, legitimizing the concept of "hostage justice" as part of  state policy.

"The political violence committed against the Armenian identity over  the past three years, the blocking of the Lachin corridor, the  planned unleashing of a humanitarian crisis and the open disregard  for the decisions of international courts have demonstrated that  official Baku is ready to violate even the highest level of  international commitments in order to achieve the desired internal  public classification," the statement said.

The Committee also recalls that the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office  attempted to present Ruben Vardanyan's high reputation and  humanitarian activities as "financing terrorism" and the existence of  the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a "criminal structure".

"If this false "legal" chain is not broken, tomorrow the same  methodology can be applied to any people, journalist, doctor or  teacher whose activities contradict the political agenda of the  current Azerbaijani authorities," the Committee warns.

In this regard, the statement drew attention to the fact that calling  the NKR a "criminal organization" is a clear violation of  international law, the principle of self-determination of peoples and  the fundamental provisions of the UN. In turn, bringing Vardanyan to  retrospective responsibility grossly undermines the principles of  nullum crimen sine lege (the principle according to which there is no  crime without a reference to it in the law - ed.) and a fair trial.

In addition, it is emphasized that the charge of "illegal border  crossing" ignores the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, as  well as the UN and ECHR guarantees of free movement along the Lachin  corridor, which confirms that the arrest is tantamount to  hostage-taking. "And the assertion that the Aurora Humanitarian  Initiative is linked to "terrorism" is a revision of the  international charitable system and threatens the security of global  humanitarian initiatives," the Committee added.

In this vein, the Artsakh Preservation Committee called on the UN  Security Council, the EU, the OSCE, the US and Russia to make a  public and unified demand for the immediate release of Ruben  Vardanyan and other Armenian hostages. Further in its statement, the  Committee calls for targeted economic and visa sanctions against the  Azerbaijani officials responsible for organizing the legal farce. In  addition, the statement demands that the UN High Commissioners for  Human Rights and PACE immediately arrive in Baku to document the  ongoing human rights violations and report to the Security Council.

"If the international community does not stop this dangerous  precedent now, tomorrow the same mechanism will blindly swallow the  unarmed population in any corner of the world without blinking an  eye," the statement concluded.

Twenty-three Armenians are currently being held in Azerbaijani  prisons, including 16 people captured after the military attack of  Azerbaijan on Artsakh on September 19, 2023. Among the captives are  eight former Artsakh officials: former presidents Arkady Ghukasyan,  Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, parliament speaker David  Ishkhanyan, former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, former commander  of the Defense Army Levon Mnatsakanyan, former deputy commander David  Manukyan and former foreign minister David Babayan.