ACPR Statement on Armenian Captives Persecuted in Azerbaijan
Criminal prosecution in the Baku Military Court against the captive former leaders of the Republic of Artsakh continues. Former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan’s lawyer [1], who has not been allowed to visit Vardanyan to this day, has reported on his defendant’s torture and deteriorating health. Due to the dearth of informpation about the other captives, we cannot even roughly assess the amount of psychological and physical suffering they are experiencing.
The Armenian Center for Political Rights draws attention to the context of political persecution against the former leadership of Artsakh. Hatred toward ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan is systemic and widespread, from school textbooks [2] to the policies of state officials and the president [3]. Armenians are among the groups most frequently targeted by hate speech in Azerbaijan [4], and no reforms or improvements have been recorded in this regard. According to Freedom House, Azerbaijan ranks among the lowest in the world in terms of the protection of political and civil rights [5]. Gross violations of procedural rights are rampant at all stages of the investigation even against Azerbaijan’s own citizens, and criminal proceedings are abused for political purposes [6]. Azerbaijan is the leading Council of Europe member state in terms of failing to implement the decisions of the European Court [7].
Recently, it became known that the Azerbaijani authorities are preparing to end the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the country [8], which the committee’s representative has already confirmed [9].
Read also
Those who speak out for the right to self-determination are subjected to the most inhumane treatment. One of the cases of such treatment was the imprisonment [10] of Fakhraddin Aboszoda (Abbasov), one of the leaders of the Talysh national movement, and his subsequent death in prison on the day of Azerbaijan’s military victory. The country’s leadership called it a “suicide,” although Abaszoda had stated shortly before his death that his life was in danger and could end at any moment [11].
Under such conditions, no reasonable person can expect that the former leadership of Artsakh and other Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan will be granted any rights at all, let alone a fair trial. Therefore, a necessary but not sufficient condition should be justified pressure on the political leadership of Azerbaijan by international and human rights organizations, as well as by states committed to human rights values. However, even such pressure might not render any results if the focus of all efforts is not the dedicated work of the leadership of the Republic of Armenia, as the ultimate beneficiary of the security of its citizens and compatriots.
In the context of the ethnic cleansing against the Armenians of Artsakh, we must consider that the criminal and political persecution of the former leadership of Artsakh is not merely a matter of their personal rights. “Accusing” those who fought against the genocide and expulsion of the area’s indigenous people of the very crimes done against them distorts every concept on man and law put forward in the 20th century as the basis for preventing heinous crimes and guaranteeing human dignity throughout the world.
Everyone who silently or loudly accepts the political persecution of the former leaders of Artsakh as a “fair trial” is, in fact, in the same vein accepting the end of the rights of peoples and individuals.