Appeal by Arbak Khachatryan to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

It was a difficult decision for me to submit an appeal to the International Criminal Court; however, several factors have prompted me to write to the ICC Prosecutor. First, Armenia ratified the Rome Statute in 2024 and became a member of the ICC. Accordingly, if the evidentiary basis is properly presented, the Prosecutor may initiate an investigation on the territory of the Republic, which would constitute an event of global significance.

I would like to explain what happened to me and my family, and why. In Armenia, the prosecution and the courts currently ‘hide behind’ Europe and international tribunals. For example, in this matter, I recently approached the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, N. Pashinyan, with a proposal to testify before an international court.

In 1994, as a young journalist, he witnessed the attack on my family carried out by the full machinery of the state, including the President’s Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, the Investigative Committee, and the Military Police. He saw firsthand how our property—including the house where my elderly parents and six young children lived—was surrounded by armed personnel for six months, how our belongings were removed for so-called ‘storage’ (which were subsequently looted by the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Defense), and he knows that my mother, unable to withstand the pressure, took her own life (he even came to interview her).

The response I received from the European Affairs Department of the government was: “If information comes from Europe, we will decide.” Did Europe choose him as Prime Minister, or the citizens of Armenia, whose interests he is supposed to protect?

Second, while reviewing the mandate of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office, I noted that you consider cases related to crimes committed after 1 July 2002, when the Rome Statute entered into force. Although the persecution of my family has persisted for over 30 years, with trials held in 2003–2004 and 2013, I recall one particular incident connected to me. When Slobodan Milošević was arrested, I was serving as an Adviser to the Human Rights Commissioner in the Russian Federation. His elder brother, Borislav Milošević—a prominent Yugoslav diplomat and publicist who had worked in the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, at the Embassy of the SFRY in the USSR, and as Ambassador of the FRY in Russia—met with me and asked me, as a human rights advocate, to visit his brother and persuade him to accept legal representation, as Slobodan Milošević had refused counsel.

Unfortunately, we did not succeed, and he died in your custody. The trial of the former President of Yugoslavia began in 2002, concerning crimes committed earlier, between 1991 and 1994. This demonstrates that, at the time, under the instructions of the United States, such cases could be considered, thereby establishing a precedent. Accordingly, similar cases should also be heard. In your list of cases involving major political figures, including sitting presidents, there are examples such as the arrest warrants issued for Russian President V.

Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after which you encountered difficulties with the United States—which does not officially recognize your authority today—and with Israel. I anticipate the question: “Who is Arbak Khachatryan for his case to be heard?” I am confident that no politician in the world, long before events unfolded, predicted all of the wars: Georgia, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine—which may become the trigger for a third world war—and Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Iran.

You may ask: “What does this have to do with the Prosecutor’s Office?” I understand that my struggle may not be your immediate concern, but its consequences—what happened to my family—fall squarely within your jurisdiction: the state-led attack, the looting, my mother’s death, and my sister’s forced emigration. Each of the three former Presidents of the Republic of Armenia contributed to this persecution: some initiated it, while others were silent executors. I hope the Court will determine the degree of each individual’s responsibility.

Court documents from 2003–2004 even contain testimony from an investigator stating that the case was taken from him on the orders of the President’s special representative, and that the property was transferred “for storage” without official registration to the Ministry of Defense and the Presidential Administration—yet its subsequent fate remains unknown. Even the Deputy Head of the President’s Security Service, who had been granted “special powers,” confirmed these facts in court. And yet, the “Themis” of Armenia remains silent.

Legal professionals can provide detailed information, and all supporting documents are available. When Elena Khachatryan approached the Supreme Court of the Republic of Armenia, experts estimated that the damage over 30 years amounted to USD 50 million. But this matter is not merely about money. I understand that no one previously believed my warnings. Even if one could have anticipated the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict—the confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan—or Israel’s attacks on Gaza or Iran, the armed conflicts between Georgia and Russia, and Ukraine and Russia, as well as Europe’s involvement through financing, supplying weapons, and training military personnel, were beyond anyone’s imagination.

Eight years ago, I wrote about Donald Trump, predicting that a “merchant” would rise, leading to the destabilization of the world order, chaos in the United States itself, and a real threat of nuclear war, bringing civilization to the brink of annihilation. Some may argue that such situations resolve themselves over time, as they have in the past—in Egypt, the Roman Empire, or other states—and that only the center of global power shifts. But we live in different times. Today, the planet possesses such quantities of nuclear and biological weapons that the world could be destroyed.

At the core of this crisis is a fundamental shift in values: money and power have become paramount, while human life is disregarded. For example, the West cannot seize Russian assets frozen in Europe—this would be deemed a “crime,” as the funds are protected by international law—yet providing weapons and training people to kill is considered “acceptable” in the name of state defense, with no legal safeguards for human life. With such values prevailing, humanity is at grave risk.

The greatest danger today falls upon small states, where leaders are either appointed or elected under public relations campaigns or coercion—not by the genuine will of the people—and become mere “managers” of the global financial system, prisoners of their own money and power, sometimes unable even to leave their own territory. Soon, these pressures will erupt, and a social and political explosion is inevitable. You may say, “Politics does not concern us.” Yet in this case, the circumstances are clear: in a small state, the entire government apparatus—led by top officials—attacked my family because of me and my political activities.

You now have a genuine opportunity to investigate a crime that falls squarely within your jurisdiction and has been ongoing for thirty years. Imagine: seizing the assets of three former presidents, reclaiming what they plundered from the people. These individuals came to power “with nothing” and now possess billions; for them and their families, this property is considered most “sacred.” Yet these resources—money that should serve humanity, not the other way around—could be put to a higher purpose: to create and support a new international structure, a network of Brain Centers, whose activities would be guided by universal human values and the principle of justice.

I have already written that soon, traditional Foreign Ministries, State Departments, and even the United Nations will cease to function; they are relics of the old system—the matrix—and are already largely ineffective, merely exchanging formal notes among themselves. Never, in a territory under your control, could such a crime have been committed against the family of a person who foresaw and warned of these events. You now have the opportunity to create at least an oasis where Truth and Humanity are protected.

If nothing changes, money and power will eventually consume you as well—your prosecution office and your courts.

P.S. Some politicians have told me that my tone is too sharp and that a more diplomatic form of address is preferred globally. I replied: “For decades, diplomats and lawyers have written as they were taught or programmed, and in doing so have brought humanity to the brink of destruction. Is it not time to speak the truth?”