Artsakh speaker condemns Baku trial as retribution

David Ishkhanyan, the former speaker of the Artsakh parliament, has issued a message from the Baku prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment by Azerbaijan’s military court.

Ishkhanyan said preliminary hearings began this week at the Baku Court of Appeals to review complaints filed against the February 5 verdict. The first hearing is scheduled for June 2.

Describing the proceedings as “a trial of retribution,” Ishkhanyan criticized the process as censored, controlled and politically motivated. “It is a tragicomedy,” he said in the message on Wednesday, adding that even defense lawyers expressed shame over the nature of the trial.

He claimed Azerbaijani officials had previously suggested that the former Artsakh leaders’ fate depended on the Armenian government. “We were surprised — how could our own authorities not want us to return? But today everything is clear,” Ishkhanyan said.

Despite three years in detention, Ishkhanyan insisted that he and other prisoners remain steadfast. “Neither principle, nor reason, nor spirit and will have abandoned us,” he stated.

He also used the occasion to congratulate the Armenian people on May 28, Armenia’s First Republic Day, wishing them "resilience, will and unity.”