Azeri court translator distorts testimony of kidnapped Nagorno Karabakh man, senior diplomat calls for immediate release

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukyan has called on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners because it is unable to conduct a fair trial.

An Azeri court translator has distorted the testimony of Vagif Khachatryan, an elderly ethnic Armenian man from Nagorno-Karabakh who was kidnapped by Azeri border guards during his ICRC-mediated medical evacuation on July 29.

As I stated earlier all ongoing proceedings in Azerbaijan, including the trial of Vagif Khachatryan are from a genre of farce and a mockery of the European Convention on Human Rights and a violation of all universally accepted international norms in the context of all obligations… pic.twitter.com/J0eYJYVRA7

— Edmon Marukyan (@edmarukyan) October 25, 2023

“As I stated earlier all ongoing proceedings in Azerbaijan, including the trial of Vagif Khachatryan are from a genre of farce and a mockery of the European Convention on Human Rights and a violation of all universally accepted international norms in the context of all obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan,” Edmon Marukyan said on X. “Today, 70-year-old Vagif Khachatryan again denied his participation in the events of Meshal and apologized in Armenian, literally saying that he was not there: "I wasn't there, I apologize to everyone, I wasn't there" said Khachatryan. However, the translator conveyed that Khachatryan is apologizing to the Azerbaijani people for all the incidents committed by Armenians misinterpreting Vagif's words. It is obvious that no fair trial can be conducted under the Azerbaijani regime, therefore they have to immediately release all prisoners from Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.”

Azeri authorities pressed fabricatedcharges against Khachatryan and jailed him in Baku.

The Armenian foreign ministry earliersaidthat the arrest of the Red Cross-protected patient from Nagorno-Karabakh amounts to war crime.

Prominent lawyer Siranush Sahakyansaidthat the kidnapping constitutes extraordinary rendition in terms of international law and a due process is therefore ruled out.

The kidnapped man’s daughter, in apleato the UN to ensure the safe release of her father, said that all charges pressed by the Azeri prosecution are fabricated and her father is innocent.