Simonian, who is a key political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, instead described the trials as “unfortunate.”
“Let's hope that after the trial is over, it will be possible to have a discussion about bringing these people back and releasing them in some way,” he told journalists.
Neither Pashinian’s office nor the Armenian Foreign Ministry has issued any official statements on the start of court hearings in Baku last Friday on a long list of criminal charges brought against Karabakh’s former political and military leaders as well as eight other Karabakh Armenians. All 16 prisoners were captured by Azerbaijan during and after its September 2023 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia.
The Armenian opposition has strongly condemned Yerevan’s silence, saying that it is part of the Pashinian government’s appeasement policy and continuing unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan. Simonian dismissed the criticism.
“What is there to react to?” he said. “We are watching, we know, we see what is happening, but there is nothing to react to.”
A deputy chairman of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, Vahagn Aleksanian, implied on Monday that some of the former Karabakh leaders tried by an Azerbaijani military court, notably Arayik Harutiunian, have only themselves to blame for their captivity.
