Moldovan ombudsman expresses readiness to defend Azerbaijani hostages' rights
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The show trial of the Azerbaijanis taken hostage by Armenians is illegitimate, said a well-known Moldovan ombudsman.
Aurelia Grigoriu expressed her readiness to follow the issue of two Azerbaijanis - Dilgam Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev - who were illegally convicted by the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"I am ready to share the issue among the European human rights defenders, but I need initial data about the event," Grigoriu said.
International community’s passive reaction to the illegal court proceedings is mainly due to lack of information about the given fact, added Grigoriu.
Touching upon the world's double standards on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Grigoriu said political priorities play an important role in the assessment of human rights violations.
"Otherwise, how the inactivity of the Russian authorities could be justified towards the conviction of its resident, one of the hostages, by the so-called court," she said.
The Armenian special forces killed Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasnov, while took hostages another two Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Askerov in Kalbajar, an occupied region of Azerbaijan on July 11, 2014.
The fictitious "court" in Nagorno-Karabakh further sentenced Askerov to life imprisonment. It also sentenced Gulliyev to 22 years in prison.
Azerbaijani-cum Diglam Askerov is the citizen of Russian Federation.
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister said last week that Russia and Armenia were discussing the issue on holding Askerov hostage.
Repeated calls by the international organizations and foreign countries on Armenia to return the captives back to Azerbaijan have been persistently ignored.
The Azerbaijani authorities blamed the Armenian government and separatist regime for hostile and aggressive approach towards the people of Azerbaijan.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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