According to international law expert Gurgen Petrosyan, the ongoing trials in Baku against Armenian captives and former Artsakh officials have nothing to do with justice. They are tools of political retaliation, psychological pressure, and part of Azerbaijan’s broader regional agenda.
Accelerated proceedings with no defense rights
Petrosyan notes that the fact such a large-scale case with dozens of defendants was completed in less than a year shows the process is fundamentally flawed.
Defendants lacked proper translation, sufficient time to prepare their defense, and access to legal guarantees.
“This expedited process is merely a formality,” he says.
Azerbaijan has already announced sentences ranging from 16 years to life imprisonment, making it impossible to halt the trials at this stage.
Azerbaijan aims to build its “own Nuremberg”
According to Petrosyan, Baku is trying to construct a legal narrative portraying the Karabakh conflict not as a struggle for self-determination but as “Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity”.
This allows Azerbaijan to weaponize the verdicts for future claims — reparations, international pressure, or justification of potential military actions.
No international legitimacy
Since these rulings come from a national court, Petrosyan stresses they carry no weight in international law:
“National court decisions cannot justify actions on international platforms. But Azerbaijan will use them for political manipulation.”
New asymmetric pressure during peace talks
As Armenia and Azerbaijan discuss withdrawing mutual claims, Baku continues legal escalation.
If Azerbaijan intended to honor its commitments, it would have suspended these trials long ago.
Armenia must intensify work with international institutions
The trials in Baku are not about truth or justice. They serve one goal: expanding Azerbaijan’s political-legal leverage against Armenia.
Armenia must document every violation and actively present evidence to international bodies, highlighting that the trials fail to meet any legal standard and target not just individuals but an entire people.