The issue of returning prisoners of war does not seem to be a priority for Pashinyan's government.to The Armenian ReportJared Genser, a human rights defender with over 20 years of experience, who has represented the interests of hundreds of political prisoners in different countries, came to this conviction from the statements of Prime Minister Pashinyan.
"The statements he made about Ruben and the others show that their return is not a priority. It is disappointing because Ruben and the others are Armenians, and it is the government's job to help its citizens who are in a bad situation in another country. Actually, the government of Armenia should have called on the governments of other countries to release political prisoners and prisoners of war. But it seems that this issue is not a priority for them," said Genser.
Neither Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have so far condemned the trial of the military-political leadership of Artsakh held captive in Baku for more than a year and the dozens of serious charges brought against them.
Yesterday, during the National Assembly-Government question-and-answer session, the Prime Minister only considered the scenes of the trial as worrying.
Pashinyan explains his silence with the logic of doing no harm.
"I assure you, I can make a statement that satisfies your patriotic emotions, but those people will feel the impact and consequences of that statement on their skin. Do we understand this or not?" - the prime minister responded to the opposition member's question in the parliament.
And didn't Pashinyan harm Ruben Vardanyan, who is in prison in Baku, when he asked a series of questions about Ruben Vardanyan's reasons for renouncing his Russian citizenship and going to Artsakh in the interview he invited in August of last year? - "How did it happen that Ruben Vardanyan renounced the citizenship of the Russian Federation? Who advised him or instructed him to take that step, who sent him, in that sense, sent him to the Republic of Armenia, who sent him to Nagorno Karabakh?" for what purpose, with what guarantees, with what assurances, with what promises, and who said in the end: "you know what, we don't know who he is that well, because he seems to be a citizen of another country ".
By the way, Ruben Vardanyan was interrogated in Baku prison after these questions of the Prime Minister of Armenia. Human rights activists warned that this statement could be used to delay or make the return of prisoners impossible. Although for the Armenian government, as Ruben Vardanyan's lawyer claims, the issue of returning prisoners is not a priority, Jared Genser believes that the new US administration will put pressure on Aliyev in the near future. . Moreover, the human rights defender-lawyer says that he has already started discussions with the Trump administration regarding not only Ruben Vardanyan and other prisoners, but also more general issues, in particular, ethnic cleansing of Artsakh Armenians.
"I can say from my experience, working with both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, they will take a clear and tough position towards Aliyev," the lawyer assured.
"If Aliyev thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequences, he will soon witness something completely different in Washington. We have already started talking with the officials of the new administration about the current situation and what is happening, not only in Ruben's case, but also more generally, related to ethnic cleansing and the dissolution of Artsakh's governmental institutions," Genser emphasized.
"I think that we will see a completely different policy from Washington in the near future. This will put a lot of pressure on Aliyev to change his position. "You know, dictators release political prisoners only when they have to," said the American human rights activist, continuing. - "And I think that Aliyev will understand very quickly in the near future that the Trump administration, the president, the secretary of state and others are not going to wait and allow this bad attitude towards the people of Artsakh and its former leaders to continue without consequences."
The famous American lawyer also recalled President Trump's statement made months ago that he would support the Artsakh Armenians.
"Now Aliyev should think twice about what he is doing. President Trump has already assumed the duties of the president, he spoke publicly, condemning the ethnic cleansing, and said that he will stand by the Armenian Christian political prisoners of Artsakh. I think this will force Aliyev to reconsider his position."
Donald Trump spoke about the rights of Artsakh Armenians twice, before the presidential elections, in November last year. Commenting on the persecution of 120,000 Armenian Christians and their forced deportation from Artsakh on the Truth Social social network, he promised: "When he becomes president, he will protect persecuted Christians, work to stop violence and ethnic cleansing, and restore peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan."
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