By Gayane Saribekian
YEREVAN (Azatuyun) — A representative of Armenia’s political leadership on Monday, January 20, defended its failure to condemn or react otherwise to the trials of eight former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh which began in Azerbaijan on Friday, January 17.
The defendants include three former Karabakh presidents and Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born billionaire and philanthropist who briefly served as Karabakh premier in 2022-2023. Also standing trial are eight other Karabakh Armenians who were likewise captured by Azerbaijan during and after its September 2023 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia.
Neither Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office nor the Armenian Foreign Ministry has issued any official statements on the beginning of hearings at an Azerbaijani military court denounced by Armenian human rights activists as a travesty of justice.
Vahagn Aleksanyan, a deputy chairman of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, confirmed that Yerevan’s silence, decried by the Armenian opposition, is deliberate.
“If you think that a couple of tough statements made for consolation would have contributed to the release of our captives, you are wrong,” he told reporters. “Additional publicity would only hamper this process [of trying to have all Armenian prisoners freed by Azerbaijan.]”