Another Trap from Azerbaijan: Artak Beglaryan

Azerbaijan's prosecutor's offer for cooperation with Armenia regarding prisoners is yet another trap or a political demand that might later become a subject of negotiations and an additional political lever against Armenia and the Armenian people. This was stated today, on December 26, by the former Prime Minister of Artsakh and former Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan during a discussion on "Political Trials in Baku, What Lies Ahead for Ruben Vardanyan and the Former Leaders of Artsakh."

He expressed confidence that if Armenia were to make a similar counter-proposal, it would lead to a deadlock, and the Azerbaijani side would have to reject it, as they are not ready to cooperate on any issues. "For them, the Armenians are guilty, and the Azerbaijanis have committed no crimes. Here, Armenia has the opportunity to substantiate, with evidence, the absence of guilt on the part of those present and the crimes committed by the Azerbaijani officials or various military personnel and the need for investigation into them," he noted.

According to him, through this proposal, they first attempt to again put Armenia in a situation where Armenia appears to be the rejecting party and the international community views Armenia as being obstructive: "On the other hand, they are also trying to create the impression that they are willing to cooperate, exchange data, etc., and also take information from Armenia. But this is also an opportunity for Armenia to bring to the forefront all such issues, and for Armenia to take more proactive and active actions regarding all our prisoners there, political prisoners, and make this a topic of negotiations.

Moreover, this also provides an opportunity to discuss all mutual accusations that we have, since the late 1980s, including following Armenia's ratification of the Rome Statute. There is a possibility that the Republic of Armenia must also discuss the investigation issues with the International Criminal Court and the anticipated cooperation from Azerbaijan on this matter.

Artak Beglaryan emphasized that there are several dozen acts related to Armenians from the European Court that Azerbaijan has not fulfilled at all. "These issues can also be raised. I believe this should once again be among the topics of political negotiations," highlighted the former Prime Minister of Artsakh.

It is worth recalling that Baku has levied new extensive charges against the former Prime Minister of Artsakh, Ruben Vardanyan, which could lead to life imprisonment. Vardanyan has been charged under 20 different articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, bringing the total number of charges against him to 45.