European Parliament to debate unlawful detention, sham trials of Armenian hostages by Azerbaijan

Members of the European Parliament will hold a debate during the March 12 plenary session of the European Parliament about Azerbaijan’s unlawful detention of Armenian POWs.

The debate of the item titled “Unlawful detention and sham trials of Armenian hostages, including high-ranking political representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijan” will take place on March 12 as part of debates on human rights and democracy violations, and a vote will be held the following day under urgent debate/resolution procedures.

Last week, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Armenpress that MEPs could initiate urgent debates regarding the alarming reports of torture and ill-treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and other captives in Azeri custody.

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

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

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.