Azerbaijan is attempting to create a basis for trade through the testimonies from Armenians being held there, Armenian National Assembly (NA) speaker Alen Simonyan told the RFE/RL Armenian service.

The “trial” of former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, as well as several other former political and military leadership of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), resumed Monday in the Baku Military Court.

The president Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan has brought dozens of charges against them.

Alen Simonyan is not aware of what psychotropic drugs are being used against the Armenians being held captive in Azerbaijan to extract various testimonies from them, but he believes that Baku is attempting to create a basis for trade in the future through such testimonies.

"And why not file another lawsuit, submit another accusation against the Armenian side, some basis for future trade? To have an additional lever and some additional point that [is] subject to discussion... The Republic of Armenia is aware of this tactic and will not allow, will not be pulled into such provocations," the NA speaker said Monday.