Major-General David Manukyan takes the stand during his sham trial in 2025
Another Artsakh leader, currently being held captive in Azerbaijan, issued an audio recording from his Baku cell accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government of indifference toward the ongoing imprisonment of Armenian hostages.
Major-General Davit Manukyan, who had served as a deputy commander of Artsakh Armed Forces, challenged Pashinyan to publicly comment on “fabricated and false” accusations leveled against himself and seven other former Artsakh leaders in Azerbaijani captivity.
Manukyan and other Artsakh leaders were captured after the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive against Artsakh that led to the forced displacement of almost all of the Armenian population there. They were eventually charged with “war crimes” and went through sham trials. After the legal proceedings in Baku military courts, five of them, including Manukyan were sentenced to life in prison, while three others received 20-year prison terms.
Manukyan, whose statement was communicated through his family, addressed his message directly to Pashinyan.
“Since you were Armenia’s prime minister and at the same time commander-in-chief at that time — and the planning of the war starts precisely from that level — I urge you to present your position on these specific accusations,” Manukyan said. “Failure to respond will mean that you agree with the false accusations, thereby making not only you but also the entire Armenian people, complicit.”
“The judicial process is not directed only against these 15 people, but against the past and the present of the Armenian people, since according to the accusations and the verdicts, it all started at the begging of the last century,” Manukyan pointed out.
Artsakh’s former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, who was tried separately and received a 20-year prison sentence, as well as Artsakh former parliament speaker David Ishkhanyan both have recently released similar audio messages warning that Azerbaijan’s ongoing imprisonment and the ensuing trial are a systematic effort by official Baku directed at Armenia and its history and present.
“Despite all these false accusations, we continue our just struggle, not allowing the Armenian people and the rights of the Armenian statehood to be undermined,” Manukyan added.
“Sadly, those [prisoners] who are held here do not feel the breath of the Republic of Armenia,” Manukyan emphasized.
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