A former Nagorno-Karabakh official has made an appeal to human rights advocates from detention in Azerbaijan. In an audio message conveyed to News.am through his family, former foreign minister Davit Babayan said his appeals process had concluded, describing the proceedings as “theater, whose script had been written in advance.” He said that despite this, he went through the proceedings because they were a necessary formal step that could later be used to bring the case before international courts.
Babayan was among several former Nagorno-Karabakh officials detained by Azerbaijan following its September 2023 military offensive and ethnic cleansing that ended the region’s de facto independence. He was sentenced to life in prison by an Azerbaijani court in February after being convicted of charges including inciting hatred and terrorism. His conviction was upheld by an appeals court this month.
Babayan accused the Azerbaijani authorities of substituting evidence with what he described as lies, fabrications, political positions, and slogans. He said that when defendants attempted to review how their statements had been recorded in official documents, their words were either omitted, heavily shortened, or distorted.
“This is nothing other than legal apartheid,” Babayan said.
Unlike the first-instance hearings, which Babayan estimated were regularly attended by 200 to 300 people, no members of the public attended the appeal proceedings. He alleged that attendees at the earlier hearings had been selectively bussed in and, according to some reports, had been paid.
Babayan noted that almost every member of his six-person defense team was replaced during the trial. He also said his lawyers were repeatedly interrupted during court proceedings and were not always allowed to complete their remarks. He also said one of the lawyers told him the Azerbaijani authorities do not want the case to reach an international court because more than 95% of the charges were fabricated and unsupported by evidence.
Babayan said that virtually all of the defense’s appeals and motions had been rejected in favor of the prosecution. According to him, in the first-instance court, 99.4% of such requests had been decided in favor of the prosecution, while in the appeal court the figure was 100%.
In his view, the large number of alleged errors in the proceedings is potentially useful because they could help establish grounds for challenging the case before an international court.
Babayan said he had health problems that he raised during the court proceedings and asked the court to officially record them, but implied that this was not done. He added that several of his fellow prisoners were suffering from serious medical issues.
“I understand that [the Azerbaijani authorities] would not want me to go to an international court,” Babayan said.
He concluded his message by thanking supporters and urging Armenians and other people of goodwill to remain strong.
“It is one thing to fight for justice, and another thing to sit for it,” he said. “But know that although we are sitting, we are not on our knees. Let everyone know this.”
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