
On January 21, an open preparatory court session continued regarding criminal cases involving crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, including aggressive warfare, genocide, forced displacement, persecution, torture, military looting, and other illegal acts committed against Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people by the Armenian state and its armed forces, including the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” established in previously occupied territories of Azerbaijan and its illegal armed formations.
Report informs that the court session, held at the Baku Military Court located in the Baku Court Complex, was presided over by Judge Zeynal Aghayev, along with judges Jamal Ramazanov and Anar Rzayev. The accused persons were provided with Armenian language interpreters and defense lawyers.
Out of more than 531,000 people recognized as victims, 350 participated in the process.
In this court session, the defense’s motions were considered.
David Babayan’s lawyer presented a motion requesting a confidential meeting with his client. The prosecution did not object to the motion.
The judge granted the motion and announced a recess for the confidential meeting.
After the recess, most of the defendants’ lawyers requested that their clients’ detention measures be replaced with house arrest.
The prosecutor representing the state prosecution opposed the motions, requesting that the preventive measures remain unchanged, considering the defendants’ personalities, the severity and nature of their alleged crimes, and that changing detention to house arrest would obstruct objective court proceedings.
Later, representatives of the victims and the victims themselves, including Rufat Mammadov, head of the Cabinet of Ministers Office, who represented the Azerbaijani state as a victim, spoke and requested that the petitions not be granted and that the accused remain in detention.
The victim’s representative Arzu Javadov said that there are sufficiently qualified doctors in the country’s detention facilities: “They are adequately supplied with medicines. Medical assistance is provided in a timely manner… There is no procedural basis for changing the preventive measure… Their health is monitored by the International Red Cross Committee. Therefore, I ask the court not to grant the submitted petitions.”
The victim’s representative Shahin Huseynov said that it should be taken into account that the accused are charged with serious and especially serious crimes: “Just as the accused have rights, the victims also have rights. We are talking about protecting the rights of thousands of victims. The petition for house arrest is groundless. I request that it not be granted.”
The victim’s representative Javanshir Mammadov stated that the accused were detained while trying to leave the country: “The danger of them hiding from court and evading justice remains.”
Judge Zeynal Aghayev gave each accused person the opportunity to express their position on the petitions.
The accused Arayik Harutyunyan, unlike other defendants, noted that neither his lawyer nor he had filed a petition for house arrest, and that he had no health complaints: “When there are health problems, they are resolved in the detention facility. In general, I haven’t heard complaints about health from other accused persons.”
The accused Arkady Gukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Melikset Pashayan, and David Allahverdyan requested that the petitions be granted and they be released to house arrest.
Other accused persons left the decision on whether to grant the petition to the court’s discretion.