The verdicts handed down in Baku against the former political and military leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh effectively condemn the right to self-determination exercised by the region’s Armenian population during the Soviet Union’s collapse, according to a statement by the international Lazarev Club, published by the club’s board coordinator Konstantin Zatulin.
The statement notes that Azerbaijan’s military court in Baku issued sentences to former leaders captured during Azerbaijan’s 2023 military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while their successor, Arayik Harutyunyan, received a life sentence. All others, except State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, whose case was separated against his will, were sentenced to terms ranging from 15 years to life, according to Sputnik Armenia.
“The accusatory materials of Baku’s so-called justice system are filled with loud rhetoric about ‘separatism,’ ‘illegal armed resistance,’ and violations of Azerbaijani laws despite the fact that the defendants were never Azerbaijani citizens,” the statement reads.
“This was retribution, a performance but not a trial. In this context, even the most willfully blind in the world should understand why Armenians were forced to abandon their land, homes, cemeteries, and churches in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh,” it continues.
The Club also highlighted a “remarkable coincidence”: the sentencing occurred shortly after an award ceremony in the United Arab Emirates attended by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, where they received the “Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.”
“There’s no doubt about the fraternity between Pashinyan and Aliyev. Nor about Pashinyan’s betrayal, which enabled the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh and the expulsion of his compatriots from their historic homeland,” the statement emphasizes.
It adds that Armenia’s current leadership under Nikol Pashinyan, which seeks closer ties with Turkey, the U.S., Western nations, and Russia, “has done nothing to secure the release of their compatriots from Azerbaijani prisons.”
“This disgrace will follow them forever,” the statement declares.
The Lazarev Club has issued a clear demand for the immediate release of all individuals sentenced unlawfully and held in Baku’s prisons, whether they are leaders of Artsakh, or citizens of Armenia or Russia, stating they have become targets of Azerbaijani political retribution.
Former Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Also sentenced to life were former Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, his first deputy David Manukyan, former Foreign Minister David Babayan, and National Assembly Speaker David Ishkhanyan.
Former Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were each sentenced to 20 years. Madat Babayan and Melikset Pashayan received 19 years, Garik Martirosyan 18, David Alaverdyan and Levon Balayan 16, while Erik Ghazaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, and Vasil Beglaryan received 15 years in prison.
