Azerbaijan will resort to any mechanism to bring former Artsakh leaders to trial – Siranush Sahakyan

Armenia is in no way involved in the domestic criminal proceedings of Azerbaijan, international law expert Siranush Sahakyan told Alpha News.

“The Republic of Armenia is in no way involved in domestic criminal procedural and legal processes in Azerbaijan and, I believe, could not be involved, since there is a question of limiting the rights of citizens of the Republic of Armenia. International treaties provide for the right to consular access, and consuls accredited to a given country can meet with their citizens held there to ensure that their rights are respected.

Perhaps Armenia had the right to consular access, but given Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the lack of diplomatic relations, such access was not granted. We do not have an accredited consulate or diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan either. There is a mechanism by which Armenia can exercise this right through the consular services of other countries accredited in Azerbaijan.

Armenia should have been able to work with other countries to ensure, through their consulates, the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the conditions of the visit. Such processes have not been carried out, and I think this is a big omission that negatively affects the rights of our compatriots who are held there,” she noted.

Sahakyan is sure that Azerbaijan will resort to any mechanism to bring the former leaders of Artsakh to trial.

“According to our forecasts, the Armenians should have been brought to trial. I think that all those Armenians who are not repatriated will at some point face trial, and the ongoing preliminary investigation will be presented as an excuse. Azerbaijan’s dependent and obedient judicial system ratifies political decisions taken by the presidential administration. The former leadership of Artsakh will suffer a similar fate.

The announcement of a trial against the former leaders of Artsakh only signals the completion of the preliminary investigation. In the future, we will witness show trials. There is an opinion in Azerbaijani society that the third Nuremberg trial should take place. There are such expectations there,” Siranush Sahakyan said.

The human rights activist called for waiting a little longer to see how this topic will be presented.

“Of course, we need to wait a little to see the level of public outcry, to understand how manageable the information will be, whether representatives of international organizations, ambassadors, or observation missions will be given the opportunity to attend and observe ongoing trials, or whether it will happen behind closed doors to hide some serious procedural violations,” Siranush Sahakyan concluded.