Armenian News-NEWS.am spoke with the Minister of Justice of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR; Artsakh), Ararat Danielyan. Below is an abridged version of the interview.
The judicial process [in the NKR] with respect to the two Azerbaijan citizens had the expected reaction in the Azerbaijani press, where they are attempting to misrepresent the situation. How do you interpret what is happening?
The NKR First Instance General Jurisdiction Court made a ruling finding [Azerbaijan] citizens Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev guilty of committing particularly grave crimes. [But] as is typical for all civilized countries, the defendants were given the opportunity to appeal this judgment; the [respective] litigation is conducted very transparently. When the judgment enters into force, they can petition to the President of the country, with a request for pardon.
Do you have [any] information about the citizenship of the defendants?
In my view, citizenship does not matter when carrying out justice.
Can Askerov and Guliyev petition to the European Court [of Human Rights (ECHR)]?
The status of living space does not matter when petitioning to the ECHR. At the same time, a person’s citizenship likewise has no particular importance for the exercising of his rights. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities do not evade liability, and they stand ready to act as defendant in the ECHR.
Can the abovementioned persons be defined as “captive?”
In no way. The apprehension has not occurred during military operations; they were not taken captive. In this case it is not about captives. The members of the [Azerbaijani sabotage] team illegally crossed the Nagorno-Karabakh border, with a special objective. The [ensuing] death of the [Armenian] people is to their “conscience.” The confiscated video footage bespeaks the objective of their visit [to Artsakh]. [But] the Karabakh side stands ready to implement all rights of the convicts provided by law.
The judgment on Askerov and Guliyev led commentaries, including from the US Department of State representatives, who called for making a humanitarian gesture to Azerbaijan [and returning them to their country]. How would comment on this?
The humanitarian actions likewise need to be within the legal framework. Guarantees are needed that the convicts will serve their sentence if they are handed over to Baku. The example of Ramil Safarov [, however,] is vivid evidence of how the [respective] actions by the Azerbaijani authorities will be. [To note Ramil Safarov, a then-lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31, 2012 from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence—and with no expression of either regret or remorse—for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest on February 19, 2004. Safarov had planned on killing the other Armenian military serviceman, who likewise was attending the aforesaid program, but he was unable to carry out this plan. Ramil Safarov’s return to the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku was welcomed, as was his act of murder, by the officials of President Ilham Aliyev’s government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president immediately granted him a pardon, he was declared a national hero, promoted to a higher military rank, and was allocated housing and pension.] All matters shall be resolved within the legal framework. As for the calls for creating a climate of trust, it is important to take into account the fact that the Azerbaijani side wants no confidence-building [measures] at all. This is the case when the people of Artsakh, unlike the Azerbaijanis, feel no hatred towards them.
