Azerbaijan: A president ordering the political assassinations of his opponents and daring to describe his judicial farces as “Nuremberg trials” (LIBERTAS)
- May 23
- 3 min read
In February 2026, at the Munich Security Conference, President Ilham Aliyev compared the Armenian detainees on trial in Baku to the Nazi criminals prosecuted at the Nuremberg trials. Such a comparison raises profound legal, historical, and moral concerns, all of which are outlined in a recent report* by the International and Comparative Law Center, thereby undermining Baku’s attempt to appropriate one of the major historical symbols of international criminal justice in an effort to criminalize Armenian victims**.
The Nuremberg Trials were based on fundamental principles of international law: transparency, judicial independence, the presumption of innocence, and the effective right to a defense. However, several aspects of the proceedings currently underway in Baku raise serious concerns regarding respect for these fundamental guarantees.
Unlike the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which was composed of international judges representing several states, the proceedings in Baku are taking place before a national military court of a state that is a direct party to the conflict. Concerns have also been raised regarding the limited access of independent observers, international media, and diplomatic representatives to the hearings.
Respect for the presumption of innocence is another essential principle. However, several official statements have portrayed the defendants as guilty even before a final judgment has been handed down.
Furthermore, the prosecutions against former officials from Nagorno-Karabakh raise questions regarding the risk of retroactive criminalization of political functions exercised in the context of a conflict that has been the subject of international negotiations for nearly thirty years under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Moreover, this travesty of the “Nuremberg trials” in Baku seems all the more inappropriate to LIBERTAS given that, at the same time, several cases in Europe are raising serious concerns regarding the methods allegedly used by the Azerbaijani government against its opponents. Since 2021, four Azerbaijani political opponents who had sought refuge in Europe have been murdered in France, Belgium, Turkey, and Georgia, and the case currently being tried in Rennes***—concerning the assault on an Azerbaijani blogger who had sought refuge in France—highlights the links between certain criminal networks and interests close to the Baku regime.
The Nuremberg Principles were established to protect peoples from ethnic persecution, racial discrimination, and massive human rights violations. Exploiting this historical reference in a context marked by the forced displacement of more than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh raises serious concerns under international law and human rights law.
LIBERTAS reiterates that all judicial proceedings must comply with international standards regarding fair trial, judicial independence, and the protection of fundamental rights. Historical analogies cannot be used to legitimize proceedings that raise significant legal and international concerns.
The European Parliament, through its numerous resolutions calling for the release of Armenian state hostages****, is not fooled by the Baku regime’s glaring moral contradictions, and LIBERTAS once again calls on Kaja Kallas and the European Commission to follow these just resolutions, thereby demonstrating firmness toward a regime that no longer hesitates to hunt down its opponents on European soil.
**Reminder: 20 Armenian state hostages are still languishing in Baku’s prisons
***https://france3-regions. franceinfo.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/nantes/some-of-the-defendants-belong-to-the-vor-mafia-group-at-the-rennes-criminal-court-the-refugee-blogger-his-attackers-and-the-shadow-of-power-in-azerbaijan -3353950.html?fbclid=IwVERTSAR -59JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR51N7VLrNbC9l71ssWTYw0JGxUYxScjA3RfhqGuPsl4sOcLxgA5ZSHBF82dig_aem_ jnt03dAPSOSDKmJVzExsQQ&sfnsn=scwspwa
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LIBERTAS is working for the release of Armenian state hostages and the rehabilitation of released prisoners․
