Instead of Using Arsen Baghdasaryan for Propaganda Purposes, Azerbaijan Should Ask Ilgar Mammadov about the Situation in their Country. Babayan

• 03.10.2018, 18:57
•  Region,  World,  NKR

Azerbaijani authorities committed another gross violation of international humanitarian law by forcing the captive to praise their country, Davit Babayan, Head of the Central Information Department of the Office of the President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) and Deputy Head of the NKR President’s Office, said in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am, commenting on a video that recently appeared in Azerbaijani media, involving captured Artsakh resident Arsen Baghdasaryan.

In his words, it is apparent that such a "dithyramb" was gotten by way of torture and violence.

"They [Azerbaijan] show the grossest violation of the Geneva Convention on TV," Babayan noted. "Instead of using Arsen Baghdasaryan for propaganda purposes, Azerbaijan authorities should have asked [Azerbaijani activist] Ilgar Mammadov about the situation in their country.

"Oligarchs [in Azerbaijan] are getting rich at the expense of ordinary people, murderers like [Azerbaijani military officer Ramil] Safarov [who had axed Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan to death in Budapest] are declared national heroes, whereas the [Azerbaijani] intellectuals keep silent, fearing to utter even a word."

Ilgar Mammadov was arrested on charges of provoking riots in Ismailli, Azerbaijan, in January 2013. And in 2014, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), however, found that Mammadov was arrested without evidence, and the objective of this conviction was to punish him for criticizing the Azerbaijani government.