Lilit Galstyan, a member of the Armenian National Assembly and a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) delegation, delivered a speech at the OSCE PA winter session in which she called on the OSCE PA to send a Monitoring Mission to Baku in order to observe the sham trials of Armenian POWs and the military-civilian leadership of Artsakh. Lilit Galstyan’s speech is reproduced below:
“Dear colleagues,
I would like to share my grave concern regarding the Armenian hostages, including the political leadership of Nagorno Kharabagh, currently detained in Azerbaijan. These individuals were primarily captured following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 aggression, which resulted in the forced displacement of 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
Of immediate concern are the trials that commenced on January 2025. The proceedings have raised serious questions about Azerbaijan’s commitment to ensuring fair trials, despite its obligations under both- the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The current situation presents several alarming violations:
1. There is compelling evidence that the detainees have been subjected to torture. they face terrorism charges based solely on their Armenian ethnicity.
2. Despite claims of public proceedings international news organizations have been denied entry.
3. Ruben Vardanyan, internationally renowned philanthropist with no military background, faces trial in a military court with potential sentences totaling 200 years. He has been granted only limited access to his case file, which is presented in Azerbaijani.
As you are aware, the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE (1990) explicitly requires OSCE member states to permit international observers from other member states and NGO representatives to attend legal proceedings. Azerbaijan, as an OSCE member, is bound by these provisions.
Given these circumstances, I formally request that the OSCE dispatch international observers to monitor these trials. This action would serve several purposes
․• Ensure compliance with international legal standards
• Provide transparent oversight of the judicial proceedings
• Demonstrate the international community’s commitment to protecting human rights
• Signal that violations of international law will not go unnoticed or unchallenged
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The OSCE’s intervention in this matter would send a clear message that the international community will not stand silent in the face of human rights violations, and that Azerbaijan’s actions will be subject to appropriate accountability”.
