MEP calls on EU top diplomat to ask Azerbaijan release Armenian prisoners

Member of the European Parliament Fernand Kartheiser from Luxembourg has sent a letter to Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, asking her to intervene and help the unlawfully detained Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

In the letter seen by Armenpress, Kartheiser underscored that Ruben Vardanyan is “currently undergoing trial in Azerbaijan under circumstances that do not meet the principles of a fair legal process.”

The procedures applied in his case fall short of international judicial standards, the MEP said in the letter.

Kartheiser said that Vardanyan has recently begun a hunger strike, and his health has deteriorated to a critical level, placing his life in immediate danger.

“Alongside Mr. Vardanyan, a further twenty-two Armenian persons remain detained in Azerbaijan, where they are subjected to conditions constituting human rights violations. Their detention might well amount to a breach of international law. Given the gravity of the situation, I would be most grateful if you could show your support in a number of ways. I am indeed convinced that these detainees could be greatly assisted if the European Union were to take concrete measures to address this pressing issue. There is growing concern that these persons could be used as hostages. Therefore, Mrs High Representative, you might consider asking for their immediate release, and thereafter help ensure their safe return to Armenia. All these matters relate of course to the difficult relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I do sincerely hope that you will continue working for an improvement of these relations and help protect Armenia's rights and security in a situation where a new outbreak of violence seems, unfortunately, to be possible at any time,” the MEP added in the letter sent to High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had earlier described the Azeri trial as “mock trials.”

Azerbaijan has officially acknowledged that it is holding 23 Armenian prisoners despite a post-war obligation to release all POWs and detainees. 

The detainees include former top officials of Nagorno-Karabakh such as the former presidents Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan. They were arrested after the 2023 Azeri offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh which resulted in the forced displacement of the region’s entire Armenian population of over 100,000. 

The former officials are all facing fabricated charges in what many experts and officials have described as sham trials.

Vardanyan, whose case has been separated from the others, recently announced a hunger strike in protest of the sham trial. In a statement, he called on world leaders and the international community to interfere.

Vardanyan has vehemently denied all charges against him which include “financing terrorism” and “illegally entering” Karabakh. Vardanyan, as well as many experts, have described the charges as falsifications. The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo earlier slammed the charges as bogus, emphasizing that Baku is using the show trials to cover up its crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh.  

Jared Genser, Vardanyan’s lawyer, recently said that his client’s health is in danger.

The Armenian Ombudsman called on all human rights organizations to intervene after receiving reports of torture and ill-treatment against the Armenian prisoners in the Azeri jail.