Former Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh, Davit Ishkhanyan, has issued a statement from the Baku prison addressed to the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Anahit Manasyan.
Davit Ishkhanyan informed that he learned from the press that Ruben Vardanyan had appealed to the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia asking her to visit him: “I do not know whether the respected Defender will have the responsibility and determination to visit, to also see us, and in that case she will have more detailed information and become familiar with how the entire investigation proceeded, with what serious and gross violations it was conducted, both the entire investigation and the trial - with the gravest violations of human rights, international law, international norms, including the procedural norms of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” said Ishkhanyan, also informing that at the end of the trial he was unable to present his full statement: “At least 30–40% of my final statement I was not allowed to deliver. But I managed to say what I would now like to say to my people, and make a small quotation:
‘This trial has not been opened against 15 individuals, this trial has been opened against the Armenian people and Armenian statehood, with clear objectives and a long-term strategy. I had suspicions about this during the investigation, and during the trial it became my conviction. Time will show the truth of my thoughts and words,’” said Davit Ishkhanyan
According to the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Defender Sabina Aliyeva visited them, and they were able to convey certain information to the Defender. “Since March 12, I had prepared an application-letter to hand over to her, but for about one or two months, for various reasons, I was unable either to see her or to pass it on. Yesterday I handed over my application-letter, and there I had one clear request - that she mediate and provide my family and relatives with the full versions of our verdict, both in Azerbaijani and Armenian,” according to Ishkhanyan, Sabina Aliyeva promised that she would provide the Azerbaijani version to his family and would try to mediate.
“As for the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, I now want to address her verbally, so that she mediates and obtains from the relevant Azerbaijani bodies, perhaps also through her colleague, the complete texts of our indictments in Armenian and Azerbaijani, as well as the full text of our verdict, and passes them on to my family and relatives. As for these difficult times, I would only wish our people strength of spirit, will, and unity, and I must say - stay strong,” concluded Davit Ishkhanyan.