Former Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, who is being held in Azerbaijani captivity, addressed human rights defenders, compatriots and others in an audio message. Babayan’s family provided the recording, NEWS.am reports.
“Dear compatriots, dear friends, sisters and brothers, Armenians around the world, all our sisters and brothers of other nationalities, people of goodwill, you know that the appeal stage of our so-called trial has also ended. What kind of trial was it? It was a theater performance whose script had been written in advance. They did not even dare to correct basic mistakes. For example, at the latest hearing, when those rulings were upheld and those present were introduced, my defense lawyers were presented according to the previous lineup, even though they had changed during this trial. In other words, not only did they not consider it necessary to check, they also did not dare to alter the script written in advance, not even to correct the mistakes it contained.
“This was purely a formal stage that we had to go through so that we could later use it to apply to an international court.
“No members of the public attended the proceedings at the Court of Appeal, whereas around 200 to 300 people were present each time at the court of first instance. Of course, they were all brought selectively, on special buses. In addition, according to some information, they were also paid well, but this time there was no one. One reason is that those people saw the abuses taking place there; they saw the weaknesses of their side, our self-defense, our persistence and the quality of that self-defense. Naturally, whether they want it or not, all of this also filters into their society.
“It is one thing to fight for justice and another to be imprisoned for it. But know this: although we are imprisoned, we are not on our knees, and let everyone know that. Otherwise, everything is fine. Stay strong, dear compatriots, people of goodwill. Difficult developments still await our homeland,” the message says.
