Courts of Azerbaijan are not a passing yard

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters that foreign diplomats accredited in the country attend court sessions in Georgian courts. "This is a direct political interference in the independence of Georgian justice. It's as clear as day. I urge everyone to respect the Constitution of Georgia and its principles. And also comply with the conventions on deterring foreign ambassadors. To this day, unfortunately, these principles and constitutional norms are not respected. We hope that this will be resolved in the future," Kobakhidze said.

I must say, foreign diplomats stationed in Georgia have strange preferences. For them, trials seem to be something like concerts or movies, where you can buy a ticket at will for any session. The excessive influence of Western "democracy" in Georgia, which existed until recently, has led to such strange phenomena. Diplomats from certain states who considered themselves Georgia's guardians felt like masters in a foreign country. Their ambassadors opened the doors of the courts almost with their foot, and the foreign ministers of these countries shamelessly interfered in the affairs of a sovereign state, organizing and supporting internal political confrontation.

It seems that if Azerbaijan had not closed this shop in time, representatives of the "democracies" would have tried to do the same here. Now there are many who want to interfere in the work of the judiciary of the republic and impose their own rules when trials of Armenian cases are underway in Baku... Well, we will not give definitions yet, so as not to violate the presumption of innocence. Everyone knows who these people are and what kind of mark they have left on Azerbaijani soil.

Various human rights activists, parliamentarians and biased politicians demand that Azerbaijan open the doors of the courts to the so-called observers. Last week, a Pakistani human rights activist announced that she was going to Baku to attend the trial of Ruben Vardanyan. This woman received the Vardanyan prize in the amount of 100,000 a few years ago and feels obligated. More precisely, the Armenians who awarded her the prize believe that she is now obliged to work out. On March 12, the European Parliament is going to consider the "illegal arrests of Armenians in Azerbaijan" and adopt a resolution on the trials in Baku, which will definitely also call on the international community and international organizations to take these cases under their control in order to secure the release of the "prisoners" and bring them out of the courtroom.

Do third-party organizations, individuals, and countries have the right to interfere in the functioning of the judicial system of a sovereign country, which is Azerbaijan?   

This question was addressed to Namik Aliyev, Doctor of Law, Professor, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

"Of course not," the lawyer said. According to him, no one has the right to interfere in the judicial proceedings in cases of crimes committed on the territory of Azerbaijan. The whole world knows what happened during the Armenian occupation and who did it, our interlocutor stressed. In addition, the international community itself recognized Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, recognized the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. This is evidenced by 4 UN Security Council resolutions adopted back in 1993, the UN General Assembly resolution "On the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" and other international documents, which have been mentioned and written about hundreds of times.

"The question today is different. There are a lot of supporters who demand that Azerbaijan and its leadership release the people of Armenian nationality who are on trial and most of them admit their guilt. They are called "prisoners of war", "hostages", "innocent sufferers for an idea", etc.

To begin with, these individuals do not fall under the definition of "prisoners of war" provided by humanitarian law. There is no way to use "hostages" either, because Azerbaijan did not take them as "collateral" and is not going to exchange them for anyone or anything. They called their "ideas" myths in the courtroom, where hundreds of observers are present, and you can't recognize them as "sufferers" after reading the materials of the criminal case, and in particular, their own testimony," Namik Aliyev said.

The Professor of International Law emphasized that European, and indeed Western, democracy is built on principles, one of which is the independence of a third power, justice. Another principle is the rule of law. At the same time, in the midst of the trial, individuals appear who position themselves as "democrats" and "human rights defenders", allowing them to make demands for the release of "innocently convicted", and the demands are addressed to the President of Azerbaijan.

"I think it would be a rhetorical question to ask, where were these intercessors, to put it mildly, when the Armenian armed forces occupied and mined the territories of Azerbaijan, committed ethnic cleansing, atrocities, mass killings of civilians? Why were they silent when the Khojaly genocide was committed and the UN Security Council resolutions were not implemented?

These "fighters for justice" need to familiarize themselves with the basics of both international law and the principles on which both Armenian and Azerbaijani national legislation is based. Actually, these principles are taken from the laws of developed European countries. They are based on the principle of separation of powers, when one authority has no right to interfere in the competence of the other. For example, the president of a democratic state cannot interfere in the affairs of the court, and even in the process of considering a criminal case. Only after the completion of the trial, after the criminal case has gone through all possible steps to the last instance and the final verdict has entered into legal force and has begun to be executed, will the executive have the right to pardon the convicted person if it finds grounds for doing so.

There is a trial underway against individuals who themselves know perfectly well that they have committed acts stipulated by the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. It is enough to look at the photographs displayed in the media and on the networks to make sure that hundreds of people are present in the courtrooms. Many of them are victims of the actions of the accused.

All this is a guarantee of objective consideration of criminal cases by the court.

And finally. The demand to release war criminals from responsibility is evidence of bias, lack of commitment to the principles of separation of powers, democracy, principles of justice and fairness, and in some cases, an indicator of the susceptibility to corruption of those who voice these calls," Namik Aliyev summed up.

It should be recalled that on January 17, 2025, the Baku Military Court began criminal proceedings against citizens of the Republic of Armenia Arayik Harutyunyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Davit Babayan, Lev Mnatsakanyan and others accused of committing numerous crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, including preparation and waging aggressive war., genocide, violation of the laws and customs of warfare, as well as terrorism, financing of terrorism, forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power, etc. The case of "ex-Minister of State" Ruben Vardanyan has been separated into a separate proceeding.