Azerbaijan has launched a fake trial of two Armenian prisoners of war, accusing them of allegedly torturing Azerbaijanis during the First Artsakh War. Baku claims that Ludwig Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan committed the war crimes.
“I do not care what they accuse, it is important how the trial is conducted, it seems that it is a farce,” says Ara Ghazaryan, specialist in international law.
Prisoners of war do not have the opportunity to defend themselves in Azerbaijan. Baku is staging the same trial it did two years ago, presenting Karen Ghazaryan as a saboteur and sentencing him to 20 years in prison. In such cases, the European Court of Human Rights has set a precedent for ensuring the procedural rights of detainees in the case of Manvel Saribekyan, a pastor from Tutujur who was killed in Azerbaijan.
“ECHR noted the guideline that we know that Azerbaijan will lose. These people are without contact with the outside world, under arrest, even the preliminary investigation is over, but during the trial, they are without external connection, a serious violation. He does not have the opportunity to have a lawyer or call his relatives,” Ara Ghazaryan says.
Whereas at the trial of the Syrian mercenaries, the defendants were not separated from the courtroom, their protection was provided. Azerbaijani law enforcement officers tried to extort false testimonies from Armenian prisoners of war in from Yeghegis and Kapan, allegedly involving more than a dozen victims in the case. It turns out that Baku not only ignores the calls of the international community to release the Armenian captives, but also ‘sews’ false accusations against them.
“The representative of the Republic of Armenia at the ECHR submitted applications for an interim measure. Regarding Ludwig Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan, there are decisions on applying an interim measure,” says Diana Karazyan, Acting Head of the Office for the Advocacy of the Republic of Armenia at the ECHR.
“We have collected videos that prove the war crimes. We show that we have a state-sponsored anti-Armenian policy in Azerbaijan,” says Sergey Ghazinyan, Adviser to Armenia’s Human Rights Defender.
Azerbaijan has not yet responded to ECHR on the case of six captured Armenian servicemen. The European Court has given a deadline - June 4. Under the guise of peace, official Baku is trying to advance false agendas. According to Ara Ghazaryan, Azerbaijan will still present new fabricated trials and criminal cases. However, taking into account the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gurgen Margaryan and Manvel Saribekyan, the Armenian side expects favorable situations in these cases.
