Mirzoyan also complained that Baku is reluctant to recognize Armenia’s territorial integrity when he spoke during a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“One year ago, in my statement I made extensive references to the challenges that Armenia was facing,” he said. “Unfortunately, most of those challenges still remain unresolved despite the tremendous efforts of my country. Statements coming from our eastern neighbor continue to question the territorial integrity of Armenia, despite the recognition of each other's territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.”
“Moreover, as we speak, the mock trials against 23 Armenian individuals, who are arbitrarily detained, are taking place in Azerbaijan with disregard of human right standards for due process,” added Mirzoyan.
An Azerbaijani military court began the separate trials of Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian billionaire and philanthropist, and 15 Karabakh Armenians on January 17. The defendants facing a long list of accusations include three former Karabakh presidents -- Arayik Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and Arkadi Ghukasian. They all were captured by Azerbaijan during or shortly after its September 2023 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia and restored Azerbaijani control over the region.
In contrast with an outpouring of support for the captives voiced by prominent public figures in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora, the Armenian government pointedly declined to condemn their trials. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed later that explicit condemnation would only harm them. Critics say that he is simply afraid of angering Baku.
Pashinian said on January 25 that the Azerbaijani authorities could use “banned psychotropic drugs” to extract false testimony from defendants and use it for “escalations in the region.” Baku dismissed the claim as “baseless and ludicrous.”
Pashinian and members of his government and political team have since declined to say what Yerevan is doing to secure the release of the Armenian captives. The issue does not seem to be on the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani talks on a bilateral peace treaty.
Mirzoyan indicated that Yerevan is still awaiting Baku’s positive response to its “several constructive proposals” regarding the treaty as well as Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links and a “mutual arms control and verification mechanism.”
Addressing the UN body, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov repeated his country’s main precondition for signing the peace deal: a change of Armenia’s constitution which Baku says lays claim to Nagorno-Karabakh.