Category: 2022

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan has released a new ad hoc report on Azerbaijan’s policy of hatred and animosity towards Armenians after the 44-day war in Artsakh.

The report contains factual data collected during the daily activities of the Ombudsman’s Office.

The key points of the report outlined by Tatoyan include:

1) After the war, the Azerbaijani authorities stick to the state-supported policy of hatred and animosity against Armenians.

2) It has 2 pillars – ethnic and religious.

3) It is not only about rhetoric, but a real long-running policy (education, culture, sports, etc.). Therefore, it is not right to speak only of rhetoric.

4) This policy is the actual source of human rights violations by Azerbaijani forces in Armenia and Artsakh before, during and after the war, including war crimes and various atrocities.

5) The propaganda of hatred and hostility serves as a guarantee for the legacy of the Azerbaijani authorities, which use it to divert their own people from internal problems. It has not diminished and will not diminish in the future.

6) Hatred on religious grounds is taking a new and extremely dangerous turn, with ungrounded allegations of Islamophobia against the Armenian people. This leads to new manifestations of the destruction of churches, elimination of their Armenian identity and torture of Armenian captives. The report presents historical facts to show the real respect of the Armenian Church and our people for Islam.

7) Azerbaijan’s policy of hatred incites hostility between the two peoples worldwide, which is also dangerous for other countries where Armenians and Azerbaijanis live.

8) The Azerbaijani calls for peace have no sincere motives, they are false and a veil for the outside world.

“Peace is the highest value for us, hostility is not acceptable, but there is no real peace at the expense of the rights of one party, peace does not mean hatred. Therefore, we must not forget about all this. We need real guarantees to protect our rights,” the ombudsman said.

Armenia’s judicial system is in “deep crisis”, which has strong political overtones, Taguhi Tovmasyan, an MP from the opposition With Honor faction and head of the parliament’s Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, said in a message addressed to European ambassadors and the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe.

“Recently, our country has repeatedly recorded blatant encroachments on the judiciary by the authorities, including cases of disciplinary proceedings and criminal prosecution against unwanted judges. According to experts, the process of the illegal arrest of judge Boris Bakhshiyan has now started,” she said in her address on Saturday.

Earlier on 2 February, Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) approved a request of Prosecutor-General Artur Davtyan to allow the law enforcement authorities to prosecute and arrest Bakhshiyan, a judge of the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction. The decision came days after Bakhshiyan ruled to release jailed opposition figure and war veteran Ashot Minasyan on bail.

Tovmasyan highlighted that there is no convention or international law that would allow judges to be prosecuted for their rulings.

She cited Article 3 of Armenia’s Constitution, which says: “The respect for and protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people are the duty of the public authorities. The inalienable dignity of the human being constitutes the integral basis of his or her rights and freedoms.”

“Such steps have nothing to do with the establishment of democratic institutions, they indicate political problems and a deep crisis in the country.

“Assessing the situation and predicting the possible consequences for our state, as well as being guided by our country’s commitments to international organizations for the observance of democratic principles and human rights, I expect you to give a fair response and make a proper and objective assessment of the situation,” Tovmasyan noted.

MP Tigran Abrahamyan from the opposition With Honor faction has visited arrested military officers at the Nubarashen penitentiary.

“At different stages, I have met with a large number of military personnel arrested as part of a criminal probe into the 44-day war, the incidents in Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages, as well as the Azerbaijani aggression of November 16, 2021,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“Naturally, I can’t claim that the military men involved in different cases have not made any mistake, but each case needs an individual approach.

“The mess created by the authorities, their inaction, the backstage arrangements, the crisis provoked in the army, the transformation of the military into a target, which had a huge impact both on the 44-day war and the situation with the villages of Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd in the Hadrut region, as well as the November 16 Azerbaijani aggression, are not taken into account in the criminal cases.

“I am used to meeting soldiers in military units and combat outposts in general, and It’s hard for me to meet with them at penitentiary institutions –  prison cells,” the lawmaker said.

He highlighted that many of the military personnel facing prosecution have served in the army for decades, have taken part in various combat operations, including during the April 2016 and the 44-day wars, and have been honored with awards.

Stating that such a situation in the military was predictable given the policy of the current authorities, Abrahamyan said its “dire consequences will soon have other manifestations”.

Freedom House notes with great concern the first criminal conviction of an Armenian citizen under the new provision of the Criminal Code criminalizing “serious insults” against government officials, it said in a statement.

“The enforcement of this legislation, which has resulted in the initiation of over 260 criminal cases in 2022 alone, signifies a clear degradation of democratic norms in Armenia and creates a chilling effect for free _expression_.

“We call on the parliament to revoke this law that so brazenly violates the principles enshrined in the Armenian Constitution, the country’s OSCE commitments and the European Convention on Human rights to which it is party,” reads the statement.