By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
The former human rights defenders of Armenia and Artsakh, NGOs, and legal figures are warning the Armenian government not to drop its ongoing international legal cases against Azerbaijan. According to them, such a move would cause irreparable damage to Armenia and its people.
The joint letter from the former officials released Monday include thirteen key points as to why withdrawing the lawsuits would be damaging. They include that the international lawsuits are “an indispensable tool for the protection of our collective and individual rights and international justice”, one which plays a vital role in stopping new encroachments and attacks by Azerbaijan.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has floated the idea that Armenia could do so if it reaches a normalization deal with Azerbaijan, on the condition that Azerbaijan drops its ongoing cases against Armenia as well.
They also cite the court proceedings as being essential for investigating crimes against the people of Artsakh along with and protecting their property, cultural heritage, and facilitating their ability to return home by establishing international protective mechanisms.
Signatories include the former human rights defenders of Armenia and Artsakh, Armen Tatoyan and Artak Beglaryan.
The former officials were joined the same day with a separate letter signed by over three dozen Armenia-based NGOs calling the possibility of waiving interstate complaints worrying and unacceptable under any circumstances. They stressed that abandoning the legal process will allow Azerbaijan to avoid responsibility for gross human rights violations, and that peace cannot be stable or long-lasting without being based on the restoration of justice.
Signatories include the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, the Helsinki Association for Human Rights, and various groups representing people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
These concerns are in response to Pashinyan’s statement at a rare press conference last week that Armenia is prepared to drop its ongoing international legal cases if a deal is reached and Azerbaijan halts its lawsuits against Armenia as well. Armenia and Azerbaijan each have ongoing proceedings against each other before the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
The European Court of Human Rights had issued interim measures in December 2022 calling on Azerbaijan to open the blockaded Lachin corridor, however they were ignored. In February 2023, the International Court of Justice similarly issued a legally-binding ruling that Azerbaijan must permit unimpeded movement through Lachin, but that too was ignored. However the cases continue and it still may be years before final rulings in the cases. In addition, Armenia officially joined the International Criminal Court just last month with retroactive jurisdiction to May 2021, Azerbaijan’s first of multiple seizures of Armenian territory made possible by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.
With trust at an all time low between the two countries, there is little basis for trust in Armenia that withdrawing from these lawsuits will satisfy Azerbaijan. This month for example, it demanded Armenia concede from four villages it holds along the border with the Tavush region without any reciprocal withdrawal by Azerbaijan from internationally-recognized Armenian territory it holds. Pashinyan told local residents Monday that Armenia must do so in order to prevent war, an indication that Azerbaijan continues to threaten aggression against Armenia as its primary tool of settlement.
During his remarks last week, Pashinyan stated the dropping of lawsuits has been discussed with Azerbaijan and called it a logical next step in the event all provisions of a peace treaty have been agreed upon and signed. He stressed this must be mutual however and in the absence of such an agreement, the international lawsuits “are an important tool for Armenia to promote its position.”
