Statement by Vic Gerami
Founder and Chair, Truth And Accountability League (TAAL)
“These trials are not about justice. They are about punishing survivors of the Artsakh Genocide for refusing to disappear quietly. Azerbaijan cannot commit the Artsakh Genocide, forcibly displace 120,000 Armenians, and then posture as a victim while holding Armenian civilians hostage. Trying civilians in military courts after ethnic cleansing is not law enforcement, it is political persecution.
The detention of Armenian leaders is part of the genocide itself. It is a warning to an entire people: return and you will be starved, imprisoned, or killed. The international community was warned about the Artsakh Genocide and chose silence. That silence enabled the crime. Genocide does not end when the bombs stop. It continues through displacement, intimidation, and the erasure of leadership. History will remember not only the perpetrators of the Artsakh Genocide, but also those who chose energy deals over human lives.”
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The Truth And Accountability League (TAAL) unequivocally condemns the sham trials and sentencing of Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan following the Artsakh Genocide and the forced displacement of more than 120,000 indigenous Armenians from Artsakh.
These detainees are not criminals. They are civilians, community leaders, and survivors of ethnic cleansing who endured blockade, starvation tactics, and the loss of their homeland. Subjecting them to closed military court proceedings without independent legal counsel or international observers is a blatant violation of international law and fundamental human rights.
If Azerbaijan considers these individuals combatants, then charging them with ordinary crimes such as terrorism is legally incoherent. If they are civilians, trying them in military courts is unlawful. Either scenario exposes the proceedings as politically motivated and devoid of due process.
The world must confront the stark irony. Azerbaijan invokes the language of genocide while it was Azerbaijan that carried out the Artsakh Genocide, blockaded the Lachin Corridor, deprived a civilian population of food and medicine, and forced the near total displacement of an ethnic group from its ancestral land.
Genocide scholars, UN officials, and international legal experts warned for months about the serious risk of genocide in Artsakh. Those warnings were sidelined in favor of geopolitical and energy interests. The result was the removal of an indigenous population from its homeland in a matter of days.
The continued detention of Armenian leaders functions as intimidation aimed at preventing return and silencing a displaced people. These individuals are not prisoners. They are hostages, and their captivity represents a continuation of the Artsakh Genocide by other means.
TAAL calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian hostages, full access for international observers, and meaningful accountability for atrocity crimes and ethnic cleansing. Statements of concern are no longer enough. The Genocide Convention obligates action.
Genocide ignored is genocide repeated.
TAAL will continue to advocate, document, and speak out until accountability is no longer optional and justice is no longer delayed.
Vic Gerami