Your trusted source

Azerbaijan took legal action against French MP from the Union of Democrats and Independents party, François Rochebloine, and the manager of Armnews.com, Ara Tadevosyan. Nouvelles d’Armenie reports that Rochebloine is accused of voicing the following phrase during a press conference: “Azerbaijan acts like a terrorist state.” Ara Tadevosyan is accused of spreading that statement. The first hearing of the action was held yesterday under the presidency of judge Anne de Pingone.

In this regard, the French MP made the following statement: “I wanted to personally appear before the judge, and although I did not have to do it, I will not enjoy my immunity as a deputy either now or in the future. I was to appear and clarify this unprecedented lawsuit of a legal entity according to the international law against a person the Republic elected.”

“I admit and confirm my words. Azerbaijan acts like a terrorist state,” Rochebloine emphasized once again noting that he had made the previous statement last year in response to Azerbaijan’s military aggression.

“The hearings of the case coincided with the time when Azerbaijan, violating the ceasefire, initiated an unprecedented escalation on the border with Nagorno Karabakh for the first time since 1994. Azerbaijani militaries decapitated civilians with barbaric methods. They mutilated elderly people, cut their ears off, and gauged their eyes out. The French Embassy in Armenia noted in the last press review for 2016 that Azerbaijan had resorted to the ISIS mercenaries’ support. It is noted in the statement of the Council of Europe that this institution stops its cooperation with Azerbaijan in the human rights sphere because of the worsening of basic human rights situation in that country. The local NGOs report that dozens of journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders face imprisonment in Azerbaijan every year,” the MP notes.

Nevertheless, Francois Rochebloine notes that the courtroom is not a political platform, and as the nation’s representative, he cannot let the French judicial system make use of foreign states as an instrument.
“After having discussions with my attorney Sevak Torosyan, I decided to ask the judicial system to put an end to foreign states’ new tendency of taking lawsuits from the genre of fantasy,” the French MP stated noting that to his knowledge, there are currently 3 claims, 2 of which are initiated by Azerbaijan.

“It is not accidental that such young republics have leaders, who confuse themselves with the state personifying the formulae ‘I am the state’ of Louis XIV in the 21st century,” Francois Rochebloine said, in fact, hinting at Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev.

He said that his attorney would submit a petition for annulling the lawsuit initiated by Azerbaijan.

“The Nagorno Karabakh problem should find a decision on the political level,” Francois Rochebloine stated and added that they must enjoy absolute freedom of speech, no matter they are MPs or journalists, especially when this refers to condemning the criminogenic behavior of other countries.

The MP assured that the only useful case on the NKR issue aiming at studying and condemning Azerbaijan’s crimes should be held at the International Criminal Court.