Former Artsakh Officials Receive 20-Year and Life Sentences in Azerbaijan

In a sham trial, a military court in Baku has sentenced several former Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabah) officials to long prison terms, including life imprisonment for some and 20-year sentences for others. The defendants include former Artsakh presidents Arayik Harutyunyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, and Bako Sahakyan, former Defense Army commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, deputy commander Davit Manukyan, former foreign minister Davit Babayan, and former parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, along with eight civilians.

The proceedings were conducted without fundamental fair-trial guarantees. Defendants were detained without independent judicial oversight, denied effective legal defense, and prosecuted under politically constructed accusations that failed to meet internationally recognized evidentiary and procedural standards. Rather than assessing individual responsibility, the process imposed collective criminal liability.

Azerbaijani authorities accused the former Artsakh leadership of terrorism, war crimes, and genocide. The charges covered planning and carrying out an aggressive war, extermination of the population, slavery, forced displacement, torture, mercenary activity, and creating a criminal organization.

Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan received 20-year sentences, as Azerbaijani law does not allow life imprisonment for individuals over 65, while other former officials, including Harutyunyan and Mnatsakanyan, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The trial and its verdicts have been widely criticized for lacking due process and failing to meet international legal standards, raising concerns about fairness, transparency, and the use of collective punishment in politically sensitive cases.

Charges were filed against former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan; former state minister Ruben Vardanyan; parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan; presidential adviser Davit Babayan; former Defense Army commander Levon Mnatsakanyan; deputy commander Davit Manukyan; and Garik Martirosyan, Melikset Pashayan, Davit Alaverdyan, Gurgen Stepanyan, Levon Balayan, Madat Babayan, Vasili Beglaryan, and Erik Ghazaryan.

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