ARF Bureau and Artskah Parliament Member Davit Ishkhanyan has appealed to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia from a Baku prison, requesting assistance in obtaining and providing his family with the full texts of the indictment and the verdict.

Below is an English translation of his appeal in Armenian.

Greetings to everyone.

We learned from the press that Ruben Vardanyan 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 sense of responsibility and determination to visit us as well. If she does, she will gain more detailed information and see firsthand how the investigation was conducted, the extent of the serious and blatant violations that marked its entirety. Both the investigation and trial were carried out with blatant violations of human rights, international law, international norms, and even the procedural requirements of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

During my final statement at the end of the trial, I was unable to deliver 30 to 40 percent of my remarks. But I managed to express what I now want to repeat to my people:

“This trial is not against 15 individuals. This trial is against the Armenian people and Armenian statehood, with clear objectives and a long-term strategy. My suspicion of this began during the investigation, and the trial itself turned that suspicion into conviction. Time will prove the truth of my words and thoughts.”

Yesterday Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Defender, Ombudsperson Sabina Aliyeva visited us and we relayed information to her. I’ve had a letter of appeal prepared for her since March 12, but I was unable to meet with or deliver it to her for various reasons in these past months. Yesterday I finally handed over my appeal, and in it I had one clear request: that she help ensure the full text of our verdict, in both Azerbaijani and Armenian, is delivered to my family and relatives.

The Human Rights Defender said she would ensure the Azerbaijani version is delivered to my family and that she would try to facilitate the matter.

I now want to verbally address the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia and ask that she intervene and obtain from her Human Rights Defender counterpart and relevent Azerbaijani bodies, the full Armenian and Azerbaijani texts of our indictments and verdict, and provide them to my family and relatives.

In these difficult times, I wish our people strength of spirit, strength of will, and unity. And I must say: stay strong.

Click here to listen to his statement in Armenian.

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