BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 19. It's utterly
immoral and unethical that certain circles — including some members
of the European Parliament and organizations such as Amnesty
International — call for the release of individuals accused of
grave war crimes, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head
of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential
Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev wrote on his X page, Trend reports.


According to him, Azerbaijan will further continue its steadfast
efforts to advance and consolidate the regional peace agenda.


"The decision of the Baku court regarding oligarch Ruben
Vardanyan represents not only the delivery of justice, but also the
symbolic and logical conclusion of the past nearly 30-year conflict
that brought immense suffering to the Azerbaijani people.


By advancing a unique military-political resolution model of
conflict and initiating a post-conflict peace agenda, Azerbaijan
has also ensured accountability for individuals accused of war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including Bako Saakyan, Araik
Harutyunyan, and Ruben Vardanyan, and others.


On the eve of the next anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, the
issuance of these court decisions represents a profound tribute to
the memory of the innocent victims of that tragedy and of the
conflict as a whole.


We expected that international courts or tribunals — such as the
Nuremberg Trials, the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia, or the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda — would be established. However, in today’s unjust
international environment, even the application of law has become
increasingly politicized and subject to double standards.
Therefore, Azerbaijan organized open court proceedings and ensured
justice through its own legal system, setting an example for the
international community.


However, it is utterly immoral and unethical that certain
circles — including some members of the European Parliament and
organizations such as Amnesty International — call for the release
of individuals accused of grave war crimes. As President Ilham
Aliyev stated in his interview with France 24: “Imagine the
Nuremberg Trials after World War II, and two months after all those
Nazi leaders are sentenced to death, someone comes and asks for
their release… Their crimes were even worse than what the Nazis did
during World War II.”


Where there is a crime, there must be accountability — and
justice has been fully ensured.


Exonerating a person accused of war crimes amounts to
legitimizing those crimes and becoming complicit in undermining
accountability.


Sustainable peace and ethnic reconciliation cannot be achieved
without justice," he added.


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