Arthur Davtyan Unable to Resolve Two Issues in Moscow: 'Zhoghovurd'

According to the 'Zhoghovurd' newspaper, on January 12, it was officially announced that the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia, Arthur Davtyan, was in the capital of Russia, Moscow, at the invitation of the Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to participate in the solemn events dedicated to the Day of the Employee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.

Following this, there was a meeting initiated by the Russian Prosecutor General, involving the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia, Arthur Davtyan, the Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev, as well as Igor Krasnov. It was later grandly announced that the prosecutors of Russia and Armenia had signed a cooperation program between the Prosecutor's Offices of Armenia and Russia for 2021-2022, a document typically signed by Russia with the prosecutor's offices of all CIS member states.

Regarding the trilateral meeting of the prosecutors, the official statement emphasized that the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia pointed out that the return of prisoners of war and civilians would serve as an important guarantee for the implementation of other agreements reached through the trilateral statement and for the establishment of peace in the region. According to the official source, the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia also raised the issue of keeping the region free from international terrorism and general combating against it.

During the meeting, agreements were reached to continue discussions on the aforementioned issues as well as other legal matters in a working regime. However, according to information provided to the 'Zhoghovurd' newspaper, the Russian prosecutor acted only as a listener. When the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia raised the issue of our prisoners of war, inquiring why they were deemed terrorists, the Azerbaijani prosecutor stated that they ended up on their side after the end of the war due to a violation of agreements, which is why they are considered military criminals and will not be returned.

Other 'military criminals' were discussed, including Araik Harutyunyan, Jalal Harutyunyan, Seyran Ohanyan, and others, against whom Azerbaijan has already issued an international wanted notice, whereas the Armenian prosecutor's office has only issued a wanted notice against an Azerbaijani football commentator. Nevertheless, on this issue as well, no common position could be reached between the prosecutors of Armenia and Azerbaijan. This indicates that Arthur Davtyan has been unable to address the issues of prisoners of war or Armenian past and present military personnel, at least concerning the removal of wanted notices.

It raises the question of why Azerbaijan has not issued international wanted notices against several Armenian military figures following the conflicts of the 1990s and April 2016. It turns out that during those years a message was sent from Armenia through Russia to Azerbaijan, warning them that should they take such a step, they would receive a reciprocal response from Armenia. The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan is to be wanted through Interpol and will face mobility issues. Thus, the topic was closed. However, Armenia, represented by Prosecutor Davtyan, has not been able to create a legal balance that would lead to progress on at least one of the raised issues.

For more details, see the newspaper's current issue.