Armenian POWs in a Baku court did not accept the charges brought against them

Today, the trial of Armenian prisoners continued in a Baku court; they were given the right to make their final statements, local news agencies report. It is reported that Levon Balayan, Madat Babayan, Garik Martirosyan, Melikset Pashayan, Davit Alaverdyan, Gurgen Stepanyan, Erik Ghazaryan, and Vasili Beglaryan did not accept the charges brought against them.

The former deputy commander of Artsakh’s Defense Army, Davit Manukyan, will deliver his final statement at the next hearing on December 19.

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s prosecutor had demanded life imprisonment for five Artsakh leaders and in the cases of Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan 20 years in prison due to their age of 65. The other Armenians face up to 20 years’ imprisonment.

Baku accuses Artsakh’s military-political leadership under several dozen articles.

These trials are being held in the absence of independent media and international human-rights defenders.

Relatives of the Armenian prisoners, who are facing severe sentences in Baku’s military court, say that the demand from life imprisonment to up to 20 years was expected for them, because the proceedings, which have been ongoing for about a year, are not a legal process but a political one. And that is the reason, according to the relatives, why Artsakh’s military-political leadership did not even try to hire a lawyer in Azerbaijan.

According to the relatives, the only media outlet covering the trial, the Azerbaijani state agency “Azertaj”, does not fully convey the statements and thoughts expressed by Artsakh’s military-political leadership; it edits them and often translates them incorrectly, which they also consider part of a state-level show.