YEREVAN, Armenia (CN) — Artak Beglaryan has been waiting nearly his entire life for a justice process that may disappear before it even truly begins.
The former politician was only 6 years old when a land mine exploded while he was playing with friends in his front yard in Stepanakert, the capital of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The incident left him completely blind and his face scarred.
Even so, he went on to study in the United Kingdom and the United States, returning to his hometown where he eventually became the region’s human rights ombudsman. Last September, after blockades by Azerbaijan left little food and no heating, he was forced to flee with his family to Armenia’s capital, Yerevan.
He is resolute that he wants to return. “It was a heaven, a paradise,” he says of where he grew up.
A long-running dispute
The 1,700-square-mile region was claimed both by Armenia and Azerbaijan when the countries became independent in 1918. Conflict first broke out between the neighbors in 1920. The population prior to the 2023 displacement was estimated at 120,000, of whom 95% were ethnically Armenian.
The area was totally surrounded by Azerbaijan, connected to Armenia by a single road, the 3-mile-wide Lachin corridor. The region had an autonomous status during Soviet times but when the USSR fell in 1991, the enclave voted for its own independence.
Less than a year later, the First Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out. The conflict left hundreds of thousands displaced in both countries and Armenia, backed by Russia, with control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has been a major obstacle to normalizing relations between the two countries.
Geopolitics
The unstable arrangement was maintained by Russian influence, but the rising influence of Turkey in the region shifted the balance of power. In 2016, Turkey backed Azerbaijani encroachment into Nagorno-Karabakh. Both are predominantly Muslim countries, while most Armenians are Christian.
In 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War erupted and, with Turkish and Israeli-made weapons, Azerbaijan took control of nearly 75% of the region. The ensuing peace agreement, in which Armenia formally recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial gains, caused uproar in Armenia. An angry mob stormed the country’s parliament building and attacked politicians.
Azerbaijan put increasing pressure on the remaining population, cutting electricity and gas as well as blockading the Lachin corridor to prevent food and medicine from entering. Despite an order by the U.N.’s top court in February 2023 to allow humanitarian aid, the situation became critical. In September, the entire remaining population fled in a matter of days.
According to Beglaryan, only some 40 people remained, mostly elderly people who refused to leave.
Looking for justice
The South Caucasus country has lodged complaints about the conflict at both the U.N.’s high court, the International Court of Justice, and Europe’s top rights court, the European Court of Human Rights.
In response, Azerbaijan brought its own cases at both international courts.
Last week, The Hague-based ICJ advanced the pair of proceedings, dismissing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia had not attempted mediation before complaining to the court.
In February, Armenia became the 124th member of the International Criminal Court. The country signed the Rome Statute, which created the world’s only court for atrocity crimes, in 1999, but under pressure from Russia failed to ratify it.
Although the political winds have shifted, they aren’t blowing hard enough for Armenia to make its own referral to the court to open an investigation.
Any ICC member state can request the court’s prosecutor start looking into a situation, including referring their own conflicts to the court. Both Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic asked the court to look into conflicts in their own countries.
Referrals from state parties matter. The prosecutor’s office has opened up investigations into the vast majority of situations its member states have asked for.
Peace process
While its cases move along the slow path of international justice, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been negotiating a peace deal. At various points, Iran, Turkey and Russia have attempted to broker agreements that would end the conflict.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met last month in the Russian city of Kazan during the BRICS summit. The heads of state agreed to fast-track negotiations but nothing has so far been formally signed.
“Peace is easier without it,” a senior Armenian politician, referring to Nagorno-Karabakh, told Courthouse News on the condition of anonymity.
The pending cases at the ECHR and the ICJ might be used as a negotiating point for diplomats. Armenia could withdraw the complaints against Azerbaijan in exchange for other concessions.
“These are options which may be used,” Vladimir Vardanyan, a member of Armenian Parliament and the chair of the legislative body’s legal committee. He says lasting peace should be the top priority.
Human rights groups and victims disagree. Lusine Hakobyan, the president of Europe in Law, an organization that supports rule of law in Armenia, thinks dropping the cases would be a mistake. “We don’t have the goodwill of Aliyev,” she told Courthouse News, referring to Azerbaijan’s strongman leader.
Determined to fight
During hearings at the ICJ in October over jurisdiction, Armenia presented statements from Aliyev calling Armenian people barbarians and vandals, as well as claiming they leech off of other nations because they are unable to build their own.
Beglaryan is continuing to push forward with his own path to justice. In September, together with fellow Armenian human rights advocate Gegham Stepanyan, he submitted evidence to the ICC and asked them to open an investigation. The file included the pair’s written testimonies of their personal experience as well as photo and video evidence, and reports from various international organizations detailing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We expect the prosecutor to open an investigation quickly,” he said.
The pair were the second group to do so. In April, a human rights organization representing ethnic Armenians submitted their own dossier to the court.
When asked what he would do if Armenia dropped the cases during the peace process, Beglaryan laughs.
“I will bring my own cases against Armenia for failing us,” he says.