Statement of the Armenian National Congress
"Regarding the "trials" against the leaders of the Republic of Artsakh started in Azerbaijan, the Armenian National Congress announces.
1. We express our unconditional support to the former leaders of Artsakh: Presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Speaker of the National Assembly Davit Ishkhanyan, Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan, Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, Deputy Davit Manukyan, Foreign Minister Davit Babayan and our other compatriots who were illegally captured and held as hostages in Azerbaijan, who are subjected to cruel persecution and torture by the Azerbaijani authorities just for realizing the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh.
2. The legal process of realizing the fundamental right of self-determination of one's own people outside Azerbaijan was started and consistently continued precisely because the Republic of Azerbaijan systematically violated the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region and its the rights of life, freedom, and democracy of the population, carrying out state-organized mass violence, as well as conducting brutal military operations not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in the entire territory of Azerbaijan against the Armenian population living (in February 1988 in Sumgait, in November in Kirovabad, Khanlar, Shamkhor, in January 1990 in Baku, in 1991 during the Koltso operation in 24 settlements of Nagorno Karabakh, in 1992 in Shahumyan and in the Mardakert and Martuni regions of Nagorno-Karabakh).
3. The leaders of Artsakh were illegally captured by Azerbaijan in September 2023, in gross violation of international norms and the obligations assumed by Azerbaijan, at the exact time when Azerbaijan, violating the negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE all agreements reached and 2020
the tripartite statement of November 9, was carrying out one of its biggest war crimes against the Armenian people, the ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Armenians of the country, which has a history of thousands of years.
4. Those who have shown such behavior, declared systemic Armenian hatred as a state ideology, persecuted even their own citizens and massively violated their democratic rights, according to international human rights organizations, more this judgment undertaken by the Azerbaijani state, which has more than 200 political prisoners, is a mockery of justice, which lacks any legitimacy. The law enforcement agencies and courts operating in Azerbaijan are just tools of repression by the government, which are ready to extract the money ordered by the authorities through lies, violence, torture, insidious threats and various other illegalities. any result, therefore, any "document" or "testimony" presented in those trials, as well as any conclusion of the "judicial" body, will have zero credibility and legitimacy.
5. We condemn any accusations or criticism in the public debate of Armenia, directed against the behavior of our compatriots who have become hostages in the hands of Azerbaijan and are being tortured under the conditions of this "trial" presentation. We should not be interested in what they say under inhuman pressure, but only their life, health and safe return to the homeland.
6. The silence and inaction of the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States of America, France and Russia, regarding the fate of the captured leaders of Nagorno Karabakh is unacceptable. They should first demand the freedom of those people whom they have recognized as legitimate partners in all the negotiations since the 1992 OSCE meeting in Helsinki and hold a dialogue with them representing the international community. on behalf of bodies.
7. What is even more unacceptable is the obvious and absolute indifference of the Armenian authorities regarding the fate of the captured leaders of Artsakh. Armenia is obliged to publicly raise its voice in their defense, to make the issue of their release one of the mandatory requirements of the Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation and peace establishment agenda. The authorities of Armenia should address this issue to the international community, Minsk Group countries, as well as raise this issue in the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Parliament, especially demonstrating the rights guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. open violation of the inalienable right to a fair trial by Azerbaijan".
