A complaint regarding the violation of the rights of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh held in Azerbaijan has been submitted to the ECHR.

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A group complaint has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the violation of the rights of 15 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, convicted and held in Azerbaijan, including former Karabakh leaders.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in early August, the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and other prisoners who received long sentences on charges of war crimes. According to former Speaker of the Parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh David Ishkhanyan, the decision was expected, but it was necessary to reach the ECHR.

The group complaint regarding the violations of the rights of 15 individuals held in Azerbaijan, former leaders and other residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, was reported on August 31 by "News-Armenia", citing a statement from the "Center for International and Comparative Law".

According to the center, the complaint was filed by human rights defender Siiranush Saakyan, representing the interests of the prisoners in the ECHR. The complaint concerns former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Saakyan, Arkadiy Gukasyan, and Araik Arutyunyan, former parliament chairman David Ishkhanyan, former foreign minister David Babayan, Major General David Manukyan, Lieutenant General Levon Mnatsakanyan, as well as Madat Babayan, Garik Martirosyan, Levon Balayan, David Allahverdyan, Vasily Beglaryan, Erik Kazaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, and Melikset Pashayev.

The applicants claim that the trials in the Baku Military Court did not meet the requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial. It is also stated that the trials were fabricated, their outcomes predetermined, and there was no independent and impartial consideration of the cases. Furthermore, the military court did not have the appropriate jurisdiction to consider cases of civilians.

The complaint also states that the principle of presumption of innocence was violated. Before and during the trials, representatives of the Azerbaijani leadership, including President Ilham Aliyev, labeled the accused as "terrorists", "war criminals", and "separatists", despite the fact that judicial decisions had not yet been made.

The complaint states that the accused were not properly familiarized with the case materials, which consisted of 422 volumes totaling approximately 105,000 pages. A significant portion of it was not provided with proper translation, and there was not enough time to review it, while all complaints about this from the defense were ignored or rejected.

It should be noted that some Facebook* users who left comments under the publication of "Caucasian Knot" about the decision of the Baku Court of Appeal reminded that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights may be ignored by Azerbaijan. Earlier, human rights defenders reported that Azerbaijan does not comply with all ECHR decisions.

In the fall of 2023, after the completion of Azerbaijan's military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the establishment of control over the territory, Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies initiated criminal prosecution against former leaders and residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In early October 2023, former presidents Arkadiy Gukasyan (1997–2007), Bako Saakyan (2007–2020), Araik Arutyunyan (2020–2023), as well as parliament chairman David Ishkhanyan were detained and transferred to Baku. More details about the events in Nagorno-Karabakh can be found in the reports of "Caucasian Knot" Karabakh: escalation of conflict or new war? and "The beginning and end of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh".

* the activities of the company Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.