Azerbaijani media reported today that the term of detention of the illegally detained former presidents of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and several other military and state officials in captivity in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku has been extended for another four months. Armenian News-NEWS.am spoke with human rights advocate Siranush Sahakyan, a representative of the interests of Armenian prisoners of war at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Below is the text of this interview.
What do you think is the reason for such a decision?
The decision was predictable, because the judicial system in Azerbaijan does not independently respond to cases concerning Armenians. The former high-ranking officials of Artsakh illegally held in Baku are political prisoners and are being punished for the office they held and their legal activities. In the case of Ruben Vardanyan [i.e. the former Minister of State of Nagorno-Karabakh], his detention is also related to his humanitarian and charitable activity.
Just as in the case of prisoners of war, trumped-up charges were sent to the courts, and the latter ratified them, becoming the decision-making bodies of the executive power; therefore, inevitably, such trials were expected for these eight figures, given that international attention will be greater in the case of these eight. And since the cases are devoid of facts and evidence, the detention is extended for another four months in order to operate the forgery factory.
It should also be taken into account that this stage coincides with the pre-election period in Azerbaijan, and perhaps they did not consider it expedient to hold trials at this time. They are now using these cases for propaganda purposes, and a recent vivid example of this was the illegal distribution of photos of our compatriots with violations of personal data protection. Instead, their real situation and conditions are not covered in any way, and there is no proper public accountability, which implies ensuring access of independent bodies at certain intervals, with a deadline, etc.
How do you interpret the fact that the extension of Ruben Vardanyan’s detention was announced first, and then that of the remaining seven figures? Do you see a trend here?
First, I think they are trying to maintain the chronology of the arrests, because Ruben Vardanyan was the first to be arrested, and the term of his detention was going to end a few days earlier than the others’.
The other reason, according to everyone, is Vardanyan being more famous. By doing so, they tried to give the issue a greater voice, to get greater political benefits, and also, why not, to put pressure on the entire Armenian community, because Vardanyan is famous not only in Armenia, but also in the Diaspora.
It turns out that Azerbaijan is unimpededly extending the detention period of illegally captured Republic of Armenia citizens, and there is no leverage to oppose it. What should Armenia and the international community do in this case? What should be done to draw the attention of the international community to these flagrant violations of international norms by Azerbaijan?
It should be taken into account that we are dealing with an authoritarian regime, where there is no judicial system. Therefore, we cannot legitimately expect that the judicial system will counterbalance the illegalities of the executive power. In this regard, unfortunately, there are no countermeasures in Azerbaijan: the violations of rights are large-scale here, democratic values are ignored, and this was also evident in the relations between Azerbaijan and European structures, which even led to the termination of the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). This confirms that there are no mechanisms to counter human rights violations in this country. We see how even a human rights defender legitimizes these violations.
The main avenue remains international attention. Some partial problems have been solved through the European Court. The international community, however, should intensify its political pressure to force Azerbaijan to respect human rights. The Republic of Armenia, as an entity implementing diplomacy and foreign policy, should perform intensive diplomatic work. Human rights organizations are also important here, and by documenting, recording, and presenting violations to international organizations, they will demand that the reaction be quick and strict and that international organizations use all the tools at their disposal, including sanctions, because soft tools are useless in the case of authoritarian Azerbaijan.
