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ARMENIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL NGOS TO VISIT ARRESTED AZERI CITIZENS, FOLLOW THEIR TRIAL IN KARABAKH
HUMAN RIGHTS | 27.11.14 | 10:52
http://armenianow.com/society/human_rights/58833/armenia_karabakh_trial_saboteurs_azeris_larisa_ala verdyan
Photolure
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO received a negative response to its
appeals to international organizations to follow the trial of two
Azerbaijani citizens suspected of sabotage in Nagorno-Karabakh and
conduct monitoring.
Larisa Alaverdyan, the head of the NGO, said that international
organizations based their rejection by the fact that they have no
possibility to follow the trial, meanwhile, according to her, their
activity in this case is very important.
"Unfortunately, I have already received two rejections. Two
organizations already said that at the moment they have no appropriate
visitors who could conduct an investigation on the case," Armenia's
former ombudsperson.
On October 27, in Stepanakert the trial on the case of Azerbaijani
citizens Shahbaz Guiyev and Dilham Askerov began. They are charged
with illegally crossing the border into Karabakh (Karvatchar district)
and committing acts of sabotage, including murders of a 17-year-old
Armenian villager and of an Armenian military officer, as well as
causing severely wounding a civilian woman.
As earlier - before the trial, the Nagorno-Karabakh president's
spokesperson David Babayan said, Nagorno-Karabakh is a law-abiding
state, and has to, even if all evidence is against the Azeri citizens,
conduct the trial as is appropriate for democratic states - open
and transparent.
"They will have their lawyers, however psychologically grave that is
for the latter and in general for the society. This is the law. When
the court proves that they committed those crimes, or it does not,
in that event, of course, we will see what decision will be made
regarding the punishment," Babayan told Aysor.am. "We will not be
affected by the influence that is expected from the Azerbaijani side.
It is natural that a criminal state would do everything to justify
its citizens suspected of committing a crime."
Alaverdyan, who visited the two Azeris, believes that if a person is a
captive in a foreign country, representatives of NGOs must visit them.
"I am surprised that international NGOs are not interested in this
process at all, and finally, nobody said that they are being treated
well, the right thing to do is to go and get sure. I personally
visited them and I saw that, indeed, everything is alright, but it
is very important that international organizations express their
word, so that their relatives are comforted, and to somehow stop the
misinformation being spread by Azerbaijan. All that is being done in
Azerbaijan is done so that norms of humanitarian law in the region
become our norms," the human rights activist said.
Alaverdyan said that in their conversation with her the Azeri citizens
on trial in Azerbaijan confessed that they are very impressed, that
they did not expect that Armenians would treat them so well.
"I don't think that is a pretense. They are also infected by the
misinformation that they will be treated this or that way. And it only
seems easy to create a positive atmosphere during the trial, when
people accused of at least two murders, one of which of a teenager,
are in the dock," she said.
Nevertheless, according to Alaverdyan, the Armenian side must evaluate
the current situation as progress, which proves that Nagorno-Karabakh
is capable of acting independently and does so in accordance with
international norms.
HUMAN RIGHTS | 27.11.14 | 10:52
http://armenianow.com/society/human_rights/58833/armenia_karabakh_trial_saboteurs_azeris_larisa_ala verdyan
Photolure
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO received a negative response to its
appeals to international organizations to follow the trial of two
Azerbaijani citizens suspected of sabotage in Nagorno-Karabakh and
conduct monitoring.
Larisa Alaverdyan, the head of the NGO, said that international
organizations based their rejection by the fact that they have no
possibility to follow the trial, meanwhile, according to her, their
activity in this case is very important.
"Unfortunately, I have already received two rejections. Two
organizations already said that at the moment they have no appropriate
visitors who could conduct an investigation on the case," Armenia's
former ombudsperson.
On October 27, in Stepanakert the trial on the case of Azerbaijani
citizens Shahbaz Guiyev and Dilham Askerov began. They are charged
with illegally crossing the border into Karabakh (Karvatchar district)
and committing acts of sabotage, including murders of a 17-year-old
Armenian villager and of an Armenian military officer, as well as
causing severely wounding a civilian woman.
As earlier - before the trial, the Nagorno-Karabakh president's
spokesperson David Babayan said, Nagorno-Karabakh is a law-abiding
state, and has to, even if all evidence is against the Azeri citizens,
conduct the trial as is appropriate for democratic states - open
and transparent.
"They will have their lawyers, however psychologically grave that is
for the latter and in general for the society. This is the law. When
the court proves that they committed those crimes, or it does not,
in that event, of course, we will see what decision will be made
regarding the punishment," Babayan told Aysor.am. "We will not be
affected by the influence that is expected from the Azerbaijani side.
It is natural that a criminal state would do everything to justify
its citizens suspected of committing a crime."
Alaverdyan, who visited the two Azeris, believes that if a person is a
captive in a foreign country, representatives of NGOs must visit them.
"I am surprised that international NGOs are not interested in this
process at all, and finally, nobody said that they are being treated
well, the right thing to do is to go and get sure. I personally
visited them and I saw that, indeed, everything is alright, but it
is very important that international organizations express their
word, so that their relatives are comforted, and to somehow stop the
misinformation being spread by Azerbaijan. All that is being done in
Azerbaijan is done so that norms of humanitarian law in the region
become our norms," the human rights activist said.
Alaverdyan said that in their conversation with her the Azeri citizens
on trial in Azerbaijan confessed that they are very impressed, that
they did not expect that Armenians would treat them so well.
"I don't think that is a pretense. They are also infected by the
misinformation that they will be treated this or that way. And it only
seems easy to create a positive atmosphere during the trial, when
people accused of at least two murders, one of which of a teenager,
are in the dock," she said.
Nevertheless, according to Alaverdyan, the Armenian side must evaluate
the current situation as progress, which proves that Nagorno-Karabakh
is capable of acting independently and does so in accordance with
international norms.