{"id":555,"date":"2025-01-17T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T12:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=555"},"modified":"2025-01-20T11:56:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T11:56:57","slug":"the-sham-trial-in-baku-a-betrayal-of-justice-and-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"The Sham Trial in Baku: A Betrayal of Justice and Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong><em>Op-ed by Vartan Oskanian, Armenia\u2019s former foreign minister (1998-2008) and coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno Karabakh, appointed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh on 2 December 2023<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Azerbaijan has once again demonstrated its disdain for justice, human rights, and international law by staging a sham trial against the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. This grotesque spectacle is the latest act in a campaign to erase the Armenian presence from a region that has been its cultural and historical heartland for centuries. It also serves as a glaring indictment of the international community\u2019s failure to act and, perhaps most damningly, of the Armenian government\u2019s complicity in the tragic dismantling of Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This trial is not an isolated incident. It is the culmination of Azerbaijan\u2019s deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing. Just over a year ago, Azerbaijan expelled 120,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, blockading the region for nine months before launching a brutal military assault in September 2023. Since then, it has razed cultural landmarks, desecrated cemeteries, and sought to rewrite history by erasing the Armenian identity of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet Azerbaijan does not act in a vacuum. Its aggression is enabled by the deafening silence of the international community. The major powers have been shamefully passive. Statements of \u201cconcern\u201d are no substitute for meaningful action. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, once tasked with brokering peace, have abandoned their responsibilities, leaving Azerbaijan free to trample on international norms with impunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equally culpable is Armenia\u2019s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose complacency has brought shame upon the Armenian nation. Pashinyan\u2019s government has consistently failed to protect the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. His administration\u2019s lack of preparation, refusal to engage diplomatically, and failure to mobilize the international community allowed Azerbaijan to act unchecked. While Armenian families mourn the loss of their homeland and their leaders face imprisonment, Pashinyan remains silent, his inaction a stain on Armenia\u2019s honor and a betrayal of its commitment to its people\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The international community must wake up to the consequences of its indifference. Allowing Azerbaijan\u2019s actions to go unchallenged sets a dangerous precedent. It signals that ethnic cleansing can be conducted with impunity, that international law can be trampled without consequence, and that justice is an empty word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This moment also demands introspection from the Armenian people and their government. Pashinyan\u2019s failures to act cannot be forgotten or forgiven. The Armenian nation must demand leadership that will stand firm against aggression, protect its people, and rebuild its dignity on the international stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trials in Baku are not just an attack on the Armenian people; they are a test of humanity\u2019s commitment to justice and human rights. The world must not let Azerbaijan\u2019s sham justice prevail. It is time to stand with the Armenian people, for justice, for truth, and for the principles that bind us all as human beings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Op-ed by Vartan Oskanian, Armenia\u2019s former foreign minister (1998-2008) and coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno Karabakh, appointed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh on 2 December 2023 Today, Azerbaijan has once again demonstrated its disdain for justice, human rights, and international [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12,5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-english","category-news","category-trials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":586,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}