Azerbaijan’s Court of Appeals today rejected the appeals of detained former Artsakh military-political leaders and other Armenian POWs, leaving a lower court’s guilty verdicts unchanged.

David Ishkhanyan, the last Speaker of Artsakh National Assembly, had sent a message regarding the trial, stating that it was clear to all of the detainees that their verdicts had been made long ago, and it was not the trial board that made the verdict, but the board simply announced and published the verdict.

“We all understand that this is a political trial, and it cannot be otherwise,” Ishkhanyan said in his message.

Baku’s Military Court, on February 5, 2026, sentenced the fourth president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan; former Artsakh Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan; former Artsakh Defense Army Deputy Commander David Manukyan; the last speaker of the Artsakh National Assembly David Ishkhanyan; former advisor to the president of the Republic of Artsakh and former foreign minister David Babayan; to life imprisonment, and former presidents of the Republic of Artsakh Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Eight more Armenian prisoners are being held in this case. Among them, Madat Babayan and Melikset Pashayan were sentenced to nineteen years in prison,  Davit Alaverdyan to sixteen years, Garik Martirosyan to eighteen years, Levon Balayan to sixteen years, and Vasily Beglaryan, Erik Ghazaryan, and Gurgen Stepanyan to fifteen years in prison.

The fifteen Armenians were found guilty on a variety of charges including genocide, terrorism, torture, waging an aggressive war, willful murder, being mercenaries, slavery, and population displacement and destruction.

Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, in a separate case, was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

The case of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan was also examined in a separate proceeding. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Photo: Azerbaijani Azertaj state news agency