Azerbaijan calls for extradition of Armenian war crime suspects

Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev has accused Armenia of launching a ‘new propaganda campaign’ against its trials of detained Armenians — including former Nagorno-Karabakh officials. Armenia has previously accused Azerbaijan of using the trials to incite ‘regional escalation’.

In a lengthy X post on Saturday, Hajiyev criticised Armenia for expressing concern over the Armenians being tried in Baku, stating that Yerevan was ‘gravely mistaken’ if it believed that its ‘crimes will be forgotten or disappear over time’.

He suggested that instead of ‘unnecessary propaganda’ against the trial, the Armenian government ‘should cooperate with the judicial process to help restoration of transitional justice and lasting peace in the region’.

Hajiyev additionally claimed that the Armenian government could demonstrate its ‘genuine intention for peace and a fresh start in relations with Azerbaijan’, by acknowledging its responsibility and handing over those accused of war crimes, ‘especially those who are currently hiding within Armenian territory’.

Aliyev’s aide said that the ongoing trial was against ‘individuals accused of committing numerous grave crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes’, committed starting from the last years of the Soviet Union, until Azerbaijan’s final offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, which followed a nine-month blockade on the region by Azerbaijan.

At least 16 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, including ex-officials, are currently on trial in Azerbaijan for a total of 2,548 alleged crimes, including genocide, slavery, enforced disappearance of persons, torture, financing of terrorism, and the creation of a criminal association. Azerbaijan has officially acknowledged that it is holding 23 Armenian prisoners.

Among those detained are three former Nagorno-Karabakh presidents — Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan — as well as former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, a Russian–Armenian billionaire who is currently on hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment.

‘The proceedings reveal significant facts regarding Armenia’s state responsibility for its military aggression and occupation, as well as the accountability of its political-military leadership and agents’, Hajiyev claimed.

A ‘hybrid tool’ against Armenia

The trials against the Armenian detainees began on 17 January, and were at first largely met with silence by the authorities in Yerevan, before intensifying their statements about them over a week later.

In January, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of using ‘banned psychoactive methods’ against Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians imprisoned in Azerbaijan citing ‘intelligence information’ obtained by Armenia.

He elaborated that through their use of these methods, Azerbaijan sought to extort ‘narratives and testimonies aimed at inciting regional escalation’.

A month later, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry stated that the Azerbaijani authorities ‘are using this judicial spectacle as a tool for political pressure on’ Armenia. They also noted that trials ‘are being conducted with gross procedural violations and clear signs of torture’, pointing at the marks of alleged torture noticed in photos and videos of Armenians taken during their trial.

Armenia’s foreign minister defends Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians detained and tried by Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has responded saying it was its ‘obligation’ to prosecute those suspected of having committed war crimes.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry also noted that for the ‘comprehensive settlement of any conflict […] the additional and artificial prolongation of unresolved humanitarian issues does not serve this purpose, to say the least, and only reduces the likelihood of such resolution’.

Tigran Grigoryan, a political analyst and the head of the Regional Centre for Democracy and Security in Yerevan, told CivilNet that the main message of ‘these fabricated trials is to extract confessions from the POWs to place responsibility on Armenia’s leadership’.

He suggested that that process ‘can rightfully be called a hybrid tool against Armenia’ and noted that Azerbaijan ‘is using these trials as a means to justify future actions against Armenia’.

According to Grigoryan, the primary goal of the trial was ‘conducting a so-called “Nuremberg trial” ’.

Azerbaijani state media has previously dubbed the trials the ‘Nuremberg trials’ — an allusion to the trials which were held by Allied forces against officials and commanders of Nazi Germany following the end of World War II.

Armenia expresses concern over the ‘torture’ of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan

The marks of alleged torture were observed in photos of the Armenian prisoners published by Azerbaijan.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan