Azerbaijan court continues trial of Armenian-origin defendants for crimes against peace, humanity PHOTO

On January 27, an open preparatory court hearing continued regarding crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, including waging an aggressive war, genocide, forced displacement of the population, persecution, torture, military plundering, and other unlawful acts committed by the state of Armenia, its armed forces, and the illegal armed groups of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” created by Armenia in the previously occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The hearing, held at the Baku Military Court located in the Baku Court Complex, was chaired by Judge Zeynal Aghayev, with Judges Jamal Ramazanov and Anar Rzayev also presiding. The accused were provided with interpreters in the Armenian language and lawyers for their defence, Caliber.Az reports via Azertag.

Some of the over 531,000 individuals recognised as victims, as well as their representatives, participated in the proceedings.

Initially, the defence lawyers for the accused – Bako Sahakyan, Erik Ghazaryan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Melikset Pashayan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Vasili Beglaryan, and Davit Allahverdyan – presented new motions.

The defence argued that some of the charges brought against the accused were not applicable to their clients and requested the court to dismiss those parts of the charges on exonerative grounds.

The accused supported the motions filed by their lawyers.

Harutyunyan's lawyer filed a motion, submitting a document to the court to be added to the list of evidence.

The prosecution did not object to adding the document to the evidence list but noted that its validity would be examined during the judicial investigation.

Prosecutors representing the state requested the court to reject the motions seeking partial termination of criminal proceedings against the accused.

Representatives of the victims also spoke during the hearing, expressing their agreement with the prosecution's stance.

On behalf of the Azerbaijani state, Rufat Mammadov, Chief of Staff of the Cabinet of Ministers, participated as a victim and requested the court to dismiss the motions.

Following this, the prosecutor stated that the case had adhered to the rules of court jurisdiction, there were no procedural errors in the preparation of documents, the rights of the accused to defence had been upheld, and there were no grounds to change the pretrial detention measures. The prosecutor proposed moving forward with the trial.

The court went into deliberation to decide on the motions presented.

After deliberation, the court announced its decision regarding the motions raised by the defence during the previous trial and the current session.

According to the decision, the court rejected the defence's motions to release some of the accused on house arrest and to partially terminate the criminal case in certain episodes.

The document presented by Harutyunyan was added to the case materials.

Additionally, the court decided to proceed with the trial and upheld the pretrial detention of the accused without any changes.

The next hearing of the trial is scheduled for February 6.

To recap, 15 individuals are accused of crimes committed by the Republic of Armenia and its armed forces, including the illegal "Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh" and its unlawful armed formations, namely: Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan, Arkadi Arshaviri Ghukasyan, Bako Sahaki Sahakyan, Davit Rubeni Ishkhanyan, David Azatini Manukyan, Davit Klimi Babayan, Levon Henrikoviç Mnatsakanyan, Vasili Ivani Beglaryan, Erik Roberti Qazaryan, Davit Nelsoni Allahverdiyan, Gurgen Homeri Stepanyan, Levon Romiki Balayan, Madat Arakeloviç Babayan, Garik Grigori Martirosyan, Melikset Vladimiri Pashayan. 

They are accused under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the following crimes: Article 100: Planning, preparing, starting, and waging an aggressive war, Article 102: Attacks on individuals or organizations benefiting from international protection, Article 103: Genocide, Article 105: Destruction of the population, Article 106: Slavery, Article 107: Deportation or forcible transfer of the population, Article 109: Persecution, Article 110: Enforced disappearance of persons, Article 112: Arbitrary detention in violation of international law, Article 113: Torture, Article 114: Mercenarism, Article 115: Violating the laws and customs of war, Article 116: Violating international humanitarian law during armed conflict, Article 118: Military looting, Article 120: Intentional homicide, Article 192: Illegal entrepreneurship, Article 214: Terrorism, Article 214-1: Financing terrorism, Article 218: Establishing a criminal group (organization), Article 228: Illegally acquiring, transferring, selling, storing, carrying, and transporting weapons, components, ammunition, explosives, and devices, Article 270-1: Acts that pose a threat to aviation security, Article 277: Attempt on the life of a state or public figure, Article 278: Seizing power by force and maintaining it by force, altering the constitutional structure of the state by force, Article 279: Creating armed groups or formations not foreseen by law, and other related charges.