Baku Rejects International Court Ruling, Threatens More Legal Actions Against Armenia

Official Baku rejected a decision by the International Court of Justice, which on Tuesday dismissed Azerbaijan’s objections to a case brought to the court by Armenia regarding Azerbaijan’s policies of murder, torture, inhuman treatment, forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests during and after the 2020-2023 wars.

In its ruling Tuesday, the Hague-based court completely rejected all preliminary objections raised by Azerbaijan in the case, concerning the case known as the Application of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan). The Court confirmed that the preconditions under Article 22 of the Convention were met.

Specifically, the court found that Armenia had engaged in genuine negotiations on the interpretation and application of the Convention and that these negotiations had become futile by the date of Armenia’s Application on September 16, 2021.

Armenia filed the case against Azerbaijan in 2021. Azerbaijan then filed a counterclaim accusing Armenia of violating the same treaty.

Last year, the court issued emergency measures in Armenia’s case, ordering Azerbaijan to let Armenians, who were forced to flee Artsakh in September 2023, return.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada on Wednesday vowed that his country will continue to “hold Armenia accountable” not only at the ICJ, but other legal arenas, essentially threatening new lawsuits against Armenia.

Yegishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative on international legal matters, said on Tuesday, after the ICJ ruling, that Azerbaijan’s ability to challenge its abhorrent human rights behavior toward Armenians is shrinking.

“ICJ has no jurisdiction to entertain Azerbaijan ‘s claims concerning the first Nagorno-Karabakh war for events that ended prior to September 1996, as well as claims relating to alleged environmental harm. The scope of Azerbaijan ‘s claims against Armenia stands substantially reduced,” Kirakosyan said in a social post.