The Azerbaijani authorities yet again manifested an approach that was used in the days of the Stalin repressions, when a person was condemned to death, or exile, without trial and investigation.
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Presidential Press Secretary Davit Babayan stated the aforesaid, and at Armenian News-NEWS.am’s request to comment on the Azerbaijan authorities’ verdict of sentencing captured NKR citizen Arsen Baghdasaryan to fifteen years in a maximum security prison.
“The only difference is that, fortunately, they did not condemn Arsen to execution by a firing squad. This is an unconcealed political process; the court carried out the order of the Azerbaijan authorities.
“Even the least qualified lawyer could have refuted the false facts that ‘prove’ Baghdasaryan’s guilt.
“Moreover, representatives of international organizations did not attend the court sessions.
“This is a classic display of Nazism and repressions,” Babayan specifically noted.
In this connection, the NKR presidential spokesperson recalled that the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku is getting ready to host the First European Games this summer.
“[This] reminds a lot of the organization of the Olympic Games in Berlin, after Hitler came to power [in Germany].
“First and foremost, the conduct of the Azerbaijan authorities reflects negatively on the society of this very country,” Davit Babayan stressed. “The countries that have adopted the Nazi ideology end badly.”
As reported earlier, the Azerbaijan authorities sentenced captured NKR citizen Arsen Baghdasaryan to fifteen years in a maximum security prison. The Ganja Court on Grave Crimes issued the respective verdict at Tuesday’s hearing. The prosecution, however, had demanded that the Armenian captive be sentenced to eighteen years in a maximum security prison.
Within the framework of this hastily concocted case, Arsen Baghdasaryan was charged with “sabotage” and sentenced to pretrial detention. This action by the Azerbaijan authorities was a reprisal to the arrest and subsequent conviction, in the NKR, of Azerbaijani saboteurs Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were detained with weapons in their hands and who plead guilty in court.
The case brought against Arsen Baghdasaryan is also a vivid illustration of Azerbaijan’s violation of international human rights. The Azerbaijani authorities had not permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross representatives to see him for 1.5 months since his capture. Baghdasaryan was taken into Azerbaijan captivity on December 26 of the year past.
