Deputy FM urges end to fake trials in Baku

PanARMENIAN.Net - Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan stated after a Cabinet meeting that Armenia and the international community are calling on Azerbaijan to halt the sham judicial proceedings against Armenian captives and other detainees in Baku and to release them.

Commenting on Azerbaijan’s recent claim that Armenia should prosecute participants of the Karabakh wars, Kostanyan emphasized that such statements are aimed at deflecting attention from the ongoing fake trials of Armenian prisoners in Baku, according to Armenpress.

“This is being done to overshadow the so-called legal processes currently taking place in Baku, which are hardly even legal. Naturally, both the international community and the Republic of Armenia are calling on Azerbaijan to stop these proceedings and release our compatriots. In response, Azerbaijan is making such statements,” Kostanyan stressed.

Addressing Baku’s latest claims about allegedly planning to relocate Azerbaijanis to Armenia, Kostanyan underlined that there is no such provision in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and that this issue is not on Yerevan’s agenda.

U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said he told his Azerbaijani counterpart Hikmet Hajiyev that Baku must release Armenian prisoners and finalize the peace deal with Armenia.

Attorney Jared Genser, representing Ruben Vardanyan, urged Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to closely review statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and Mike Waltz.