Contract servicemen Ishkhan Sargsyan and Vladimir Rafaelyan were captured in May 2021 while performing engineering works in the border area of Gegharkunik. Their trial in Azerbaijan has already ended, the prosecutor asked for time to present the indictment. Sargsyan and Rafaelyan are accused of committing a terrorist attack with a firearm.
Siranush Sahakyan, who defends the rights of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told “Azatutyun” that on the same day, six servicemen were captured from the same place, four of them were repatriated shortly after, and the trial of the other two is a testament to Baku's political goals under the guise of criminal prosecutions.
“I think the motive here needs to be understood. Since Azerbaijan is not fulfilling its obligation to return them immediately, it must create artificial legal grounds for detaining them to exempt the leadership of Azerbaijan from international criminal prosecution. For this purpose, they have started to conduct a trial in order to later present arguments to the international community, or the courts, that their detention was due to ongoing trials.
In the last court session, documents were examined, which repeat the Azerbaijani point of view at the beginning of the capture: the intelligence diversion group of the Armed Forces of Armenia was arrested while trying to cross the border in the direction of the settlement of Yukhari Ayrem in Kelbajar.
According to the accusation, Ishkhan Sargsyan tried to mine the supply routes of the positions of the Azerbaijani army located on the border. Falsification of evidence is a common practice in this case, and in order to substantiate any hypothesis, the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan won’t stop and will fully implement this political order. The resources are completely under their control, the judges are completely dependent, there is no independent impartial re-verification of the facts. These individuals are deprived of legal assistance, there is no international monitoring presence. Any arbitrariness can be done with these processes.”
The public defenders provided by Azerbaijan have appealed some POWs’ cases to higher courts, albeit unsuccessfully, Sahakyan said:
“This was carried out in order to justify that the presence of the public defender was not formal. Often they resort to active measures, which only aim to strengthen the Azerbaijani defense in the ongoing international judicial processes. These are prearranged tactical steps to properly organize the country's defense.”
According to the human rights defender, another 38 POWs were sentenced to 4 years to life imprisonment in the past months. It is not clear whether there are charges against the 6 servicemen who were captured from the border areas of Syunik and Vayots Dzor provinces last November and are still in Azerbaijani prisons. According to Azerbaijan, there are currently 46 POWs under its control, three of which are civilians.