{"id":671,"date":"2025-02-19T12:12:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=671"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:12:06","slug":"sham-trials-in-baku-seek-to-delegitimize-artsakhs-right-to-self-determination-legal-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=671","title":{"rendered":"Sham Trials in Baku Seek to Delegitimize Artsakh\u2019s Right to Self-Determination, Legal Expert Says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Charges Brought Against Artsakh Leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the sham trials of Artsakh leaders continue in two separate military courts in Baku, a legal expert said that through these trials, Azerbaijan wants to prosecute, and thus delegitimize Artsakh\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese individuals are symbolic and subject to personal vendettas, but Azerbaijan\u2019s ultimate goal is to judge and condemn Artsakh\u2019s right to self-determination,\u201d Siranush Sahakyan, a legal expert who represents Armenian prisoners of war in international courts, told Azatutyun.am<\/a>, the Armenian service of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said that by engaging Armenia in these cases, Azerbaijan wants to close the issue of the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh within international courts. With rulings against the Artsakh leaders, it will try to present Armenia as an aggressor that \u201coccupied Artsakh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors in the closed-door trial levied more charges against Artsakh leaders, who were captured and jailed following Azerbaijan\u2019s attack on Artsakh in September 2023, which forced the displacement of Artsakh\u2019s entire Armenian population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new charges include allegations that the leadership in Artsakh \u201cillegally fired and deported\u201d teachers and students from the Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute. Another allegation levied against the Artsakh leaders was that the Artsakh war had caused damages worth 100 billion manats, or roughly $58 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over in another courtroom where Artsakh\u2019s former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan is being tried separately, prosecutors continued to read out the more than 45 charges against the defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vardanyan told the court last week that he did not want to be represented by the court-appointed defense attorney, citing the fact that the lawyer had not sufficiently represented his interests. Instead, Vardanyan entered the courtroom with a private attorney, Avraam Berman, who is licensed to practice in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the court session on Monday, Vardanyan\u2019s attorney asked the court to allow a consultation with his client, which the judge granted. Following the meeting, the team asked the court to have the judges recuse themselves from the “trial”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors Vusal Aliyev and Fouad Musa, who support the state\u2019s accusations, noted that a similar motion had been discussed at a previous court session and a decision was made to reject the motion, according to reports by the Azerbaijan\u2019s pro-government press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, prosecutors charged Vardanyan with allegedly plotting to assassinate high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, calling the so-called plan \u201cOperation Nemesis, 2.0.\u201d The Azerbaijani press did not report whether any evidence of such a plot was presented in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruben Vardanyan, a businessman and philanthropist, moved to Artsakh two years after the 44-day war and served as state minister for just three months. Despite having no involvement in military operations in Artsakh or Armenia, he faces charges of war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with other Armenian prisoners, Vardanyan has also been accused of crimes against Azerbaijan, including charges related to the September 2022 border clashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is well documented that Azerbaijan launched an attack on Armenia in September 2022, seizing sovereign Armenian territories. The two-day clashes resulted in the deaths of more than 200 Armenian soldiers and civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sahakyan, the legal expert, told Azatutyun.am that in the trial of Artsakh leaders, the prosecutors are going through the motions of a trial \u201cbut not justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sahakyan was also skeptical about how far private attorneys would go to advance the case for their client. She believes that if an attorney attempts bold tactics, they will be deprived of the right to practice law due to the repressive state of Azerbaijan\u2019s justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been cases where criminal charges were initiated,\u201d against attorneys, Sahakyan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently stated that Armenian prisoners in Baku might be coerced into making statements that could later be used against Armenia. He described the trials as a theatrical performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sahakyan, the Armenian government is avoiding active steps, even on humanitarian issues, and is failing to counter Azerbaijan\u2019s long-term objectives in international political and diplomatic arenas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruben Vardanyan\u2019s trial will continue on February 25, while the trials of former Artsakh leaders are scheduled for February 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources: ASBAREZ<\/a> & PanArmenian.net<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Charges Brought Against Artsakh Leaders As the sham trials of Artsakh leaders continue in two separate military courts in Baku, a legal expert said that through these trials, Azerbaijan wants to prosecute, and thus delegitimize Artsakh\u2019s right to self-determination. \u201cThese individuals are symbolic and subject to personal vendettas, but Azerbaijan\u2019s ultimate goal is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-news","category-trials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","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=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":673,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}