HY RU EN
Asset 3

Loading

End of content No more pages to load

Your search did not match any articles

Lusine Hakobyan

Baku Military Court: Trial of Former Artsakh Leaders Begins Today

Baku’s Military Court today will begin proceedings against former Artsakh military and political leaders now held in Azerbaijan who face a multitude of war crimes related charges.

The defendants are the second, third and fourth presidents of the Republic of Artsakh (Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan), former Artsakh National Assembly Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, former Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, former Artsakh Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, and former Artsakh Armed Forces Deputy Commander Davit Manukyan.

Eight Armenian civilians now held in Baku are included in the case.

The case of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan is being examined in a separate proceeding.  Vardanyan’s court, also to be heard at the Baku Military Court, begins today as well.

Vardanyan faces forty-two charges, some of which carry a sentence of life imprisonment.

Yesterday, Vardanyan conveyed a message to his family via a telephone call, in which he noted that he has not yet been given the opportunity to familiarize himself with the official indictment. He was only allowed to browse the 422-volume criminal case in Azerbaijani, which he does not speak, and was given a fairly short period of time to do so.

Vardanyan, in his message, demanded that the trials be public in nature with the participation of international journalists and representatives of humanitarian organizations.

He also noted that pressure was exerted on him, his lawyer, and his translator to force them to sign documents retrospectively, including false protocols of interrogations that did not take place. Vardanyan is demanding an open, public trial.

Several Artsakh affiliated organizations are scheduled to stage protests today outside the U.N. Office in Yerevan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Write a comment

Hetq does not publish comments containing offensive language or personal attacks. Please criticize content, not people. And please use "real" names, not monikers. Thanks again for following Hetq.
If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter