details added (first version posted at 19:52)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 29
Trend:
The activity of the so-called "trial", organized in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the verdict, have no legal basis, acting spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend Dec. 29.
He was commenting on the information spread by the Armenian media about the completion of the so-called "trial" in relation to Azerbaijani hostages Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev.
"Asgarov and Guliyev were taken hostage by the Armenian armed forces when they visited the graves of their parents in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, but Hasan Hasanov was brutally killed," he said.
"By violating the commitments undertaken as part of the European Convention on Human Rights, the international humanitarian law, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as violating the obligations as part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Armenia is responsible for taking civilians hostage, torture against them and organizing a fake "trial" for them," Hajiyev said.
"Armenia violates human rights grossly, systematically and massively," he said. "The international institutions and the public must urge Armenia to immediately release Asgarov and Guliyev, as well as to deliver a report on the fate of more than 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis."
"The international community must also pay due attention to protecting the rights of more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons deprived of their rights as a result of Armenian aggression," Hajiyev said.
He said that the contacts with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and international organizations will continue to release Asgarov and Guliyev.
Dilgam Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Shahbaz Guliyev was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the statement says.
The Armenian forces, during an operation in the Shaplar village of Azerbaijan's occupied Kalbajar district on July 11, killed an Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov, and detained two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A criminal case was filed against them.
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 the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.