“It is obvious that the Azerbaijani authorities are using this judicial staging as a tool for political pressure on the Republic of Armenia and manipulation of [Armenian] society,” it said in a statement.
After weeks of the Armenian government’s effective silence condemned by its domestic critics, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan criticized on Monday the “mock trials” of eight former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and eight other Karabakh Armenians. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed earlier that explicit condemnation of the trials would only harm the defendants.
Pashinian’s detractors insisted that he is simply afraid of angering Baku. Their fury with the Armenian government’s stance grew further after Azerbaijani state media released on Tuesday images of Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist, appearing before a military court in Baku one week after the start of his latest hunger strike.
Vardanyan, who briefly served as Karabakh premier from November 2022 to February 2023, looked frail and had apparent bruises on his face. His American lawyer, Jaren Genser, expressed serious concern at his client’s “deteriorating health,” urging Baku to “postpone the trial through the remainder of his hunger strike.” Genser also called on world leaders and “especially” Pashinian to condemn the “show trial.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said it is “deeply concerned” over reports about the ill-treatment of Armenian prisoners and “obvious deterioration of their health.”
“The Armenian government continues to receive reports about the use of prohibited means against Armenian prisoners of war, hostages, and other detainees,” read its statement. “Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees are being illegally held in Azerbaijan contrary to its commitments and international obligations. The detention and persecution of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights.”
The statement came shortly before hundreds of people picketed the ministry building in Yerevan during a demonstration organized by the opposition Aprelu Yerkir party linked to Vardanyan. The protesters, who then marched to Pashinian’s nearby office, held pictures of Vardanyan and other prisoners and posters demanding an end to the Armenian government’s “indifference.”
Aprelu Yerkir’s Mesrop Arakelian dismissed the Foreign Ministry’s statement as “toothless,” saying that Yerevan must act more forcefully on the international stage.
“You can’t achieve anything with words and calls,” said Arakelian. “They must take actions.”
“When you are silent, no international body or foreign state will say anything [in support of the prisoners,]” another party leader, Mane Tandilian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The Foreign Ministry insisted that it “continues to draw the international community’s attention to the issue of the release” of the Armenian captives. Critics maintain that the issue is not on the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani talks on a bilateral peace treaty.
The separate trials of Vardanyan and the other former Karabakh leaders began on January 17. They are facing a long list of charges, including genocide and war crimes.
Vardanyan, who strongly denies the accusations, announced his hunger strike in a statement issued via his family in Armenia on February 19. He described his trial as a “political show” accompanied by “egregious due process abuses.”