The rights of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) Lyudvik Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan are grossly violated in Baku. Lawyer and international law expert Ara Ghazaryan said this during discussions.

As reported earlier, the judicial farce against Mkrtchyan and Khosrovyan has started Wednesday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Both are veterans of the first Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in the early 1990s, and absurd charges have been brought against them.

"The main question is how their rights are protected. What we saw; the same thing is happening as in the case of [Armenian captive] Karen Ghazaryan. People are in an ‘aquarium,’ there is no lawyer, communication with relatives is not provided, communication between the authorities is not provided. In the case of [Armenian captive Manvel] Saribekyan, the ECHR had previously declared the inadmissibility of such treatment. In such conditions—it does not matter what they are accused of—, the whole charge is in doubt. Fundamental human rights have been violated," the lawyer said.

Also, Ara Ghazaryan drew parallels with "Kelbajar saboteurs"—the Azerbaijanis Askerov and Guliyev—, who were with their lawyers during their trial in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and could communicate with them. "There is an explanation for what happened [in the case of Mkrtchyan and Khosrovyan]: the [Azerbaijani] authorities keep the process under [their] control. There is no trial [here]; this is a farce," the lawyer emphasized.

He expressed a conviction that when this case enters the ECHR, Azerbaijan will inevitably lose. As per Ara Ghazaryan, there are precedents for that; for example, the case of Manvel Saribekyan. "The ECHR will demand the materials of the case. The publicity, competitiveness of the process has been violated. What is happening now is aimed at the internal audience [of Azerbaijan]. As for the ECHR, they [the Azerbaijanis] rely on time and do not even truly respect the ECHR. For example, Saribekyan has not yet received [from Azerbaijan] compensation for damages," added the lawyer.