Arpine Hovhannisyan responds to Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan

Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Arpine Hovhannisyan responded to the speech of the Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan during the high-level Conference taking place in Sofia. The Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan said in his speech that the judiciary of Azerbaijan would have worked more effectively, if 20 percent of the country’s territories had not been occupied, and they did not have one million refugees. He also said that it was Armenia that started aggression against Azerbaijan meaning the unleashed broad-scale military actions against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on the night of 1-2 April.

Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Arpine Hovhannisyan opposed the representative of Azerbaijan, stating, "I am very sorry that the Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan did not heed admonition of Director General of the Council of Europe Human Rights and Rule of Law, moderator of the Conference Philippe Boillat, who asked to speak exclusively on the topic and not to touch upon the topics that are not related to the question under consideration. However, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not on the agenda of this Conference, nevertheless responding to the latter I would like to note that it was Azerbaijan that initiated an unprecedented large-scale military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of 1-2 April. They killed, they tortured, they beheaded, yes, ladies and gentlemen, they beheaded in the manner typical of ’the Islamic State’. At this moment, I stop talking on this subject given the scope of the Conference, but I would like to conclude my speech by citing the words of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker addressed to Azerbaijan that he said in his speech at the Council of Europe, ‘Stop shooting, stop fighting’".

Let us remind that today, in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, Conference entitled “Strengthening Judicial Independence and Impartiality as a Pre-condition for the Rule of Law in Council of Europe Member States” has launched, which is attended by approximately two hundred delegates from various countries of the world, i.e. ministers of justice, high-ranking members of the judiciary as well as by the representatives of the CoE institutions and other international organisations.