RUTHFULLY YOURS

Azerbaijan’s government authorities refuse to release the Armenian hostages whom they have illegally held and abused since they captured them in 2020 and 2023.

On January 17, Azerbaijan began trials of 16 Armenian captives — including the former leaders of Artsakh (Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh) — in military courtrooms, to which international media and observers have been denied access.

In a press release, the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ) requested that Azerbaijan allow international legal experts to observe the trials. The request remains unanswered. The next court hearings are slated for January 27, during which court decisions are expected to be announced. As of now, the trials are open only to Azerbaijani state media.

Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing against the Armenian people of Artsakh has been proceeding for the past four years. Azerbaijan – with the help of Turkey — launched an aggressive war against Artsakh that lasted 44 days — between September 27 and November 9, 2020. The aggressors committed countless crimes and indiscriminately shelled the indigenous lands of Armenians, where around 120,000 Armenians resided in the South Caucasus. Azeri soldiers posted videos and photos of themselves beheading and mutilating Armenians.

The trilateral ceasefire agreement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 9, 2020 was supposed to halt the war. The agreement mandates the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs), hostages and detainees, as well as the repatriation of the remains of deceased individuals. Armenia has honored the agreement, but Azerbaijan has still not.

After the Azeri bombardment of Artsakh in September 2023, Azerbaijan took even more Armenians hostage. As of now, according to official Armenian data, Azerbaijan is holding 23 prisoners of war and political prisoners. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) says that the true figure may be as high as 100, and calls for all Armenian hostages to be released without delay.

Some of the detained individuals include Davit Babayan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh, Arkady Ghukasyan, former president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, former president of Artsakh, Davit Ishkhanyan, chairman of the National Assembly of Artsakh, Davit Manukyan, former deputy commander of the Artsakh Armed Forces, Levon Mnatsakanyan, former commander of the Armed Forces, Bako Sahakyan, former president of Artsakh, and Ruben Vardanyan, former State Minister of Artsakh.

Vardanyan, who has been detained by Azerbaijan since September 27, 2023, issued a statement posted on social media by his family on January 16. He is being tried separately from the other 15 Armenians. He said that he had not been given enough time to prepare his defense on 42 charges, including terrorism:

“A court hearing of my case is scheduled for January 17 at 3:00 PM. I have been informed that I am facing 42 charges, some of which carry sentences up to life imprisonment. However, I have not been granted the opportunity to fully review the official indictment. My lawyer and I were merely allowed to skim through 422 volumes of the case files, all written solely in the Azerbaijani language, which I do not understand, within a very short timeframe – from December 9, 2024, to January 8, 2025. I only received the list of charges in Russian on January 8, 2025.

“Moreover pressure has been exerted on me, my lawyer, and my interpreter to force us to backdate and sign documents, include] ng falsified protocols and records of interrogations that never took place.

“I officially declare: I have given no testimony since the day of my arrest, except during the first interrogation, where I only stated my name and surname. Let me reiterate: all protocols bearing my signature are falsifications. These documents do not exist in reality. My lawyer and interpreter were coerced into signing these documents.

“I once again reiterate and state my complete innocence and the innocence of my Armenian compatriots also being held as political prisoners and demand an immediate end to this politically motivated case against us.”

The court denied Vardanyan’s request to merge his case with those of the others. His trial is set to resume on January 27.

The people of Artsakh democratically elected their representatives through a direct vote. The term “elected representatives of Nagorno Karabakh” is recorded in several documents of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The former leaders of Artsakh are not the only Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan. Since 2020, Azerbaijan has taken many Armenian civilians and soldiers hostage during and in the aftermath of Azeri military attacks. Azerbaijan tortured and murdered many of them.

One of the Armenian hostages tortured in an Azeri prison is Vicken Euljekjian, a dual citizen of Armenia and Lebanon. Azeri soldiers detained him on November 10, 2020, near the Armenian city of Shushi in Artsakh, currently occupied by Azerbaijan. The detention reportedly took place 10 hours after the ceasefire had gone into effect. Soon after, he was transferred, along with other Armenian hostages, to a prison in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. A court sentenced Euljekjian to 20 years imprisonment after a short trial without adequate legal representation.

Armenia’s government and human rights groups condemned the trial as a travesty of justice. Liparit Drmeyan, an aide to Armenia’s representative to the European Court of Human Rights, said that Euljekjian did not have access to lawyers that were chosen by him.

Euljekjian’s wife, Linda Euljekjian, told Gatestone Institute that he is suffering from serious physical and mental health problems in prison, and has requested a retrial and a lawyer, but the Azeri authorities refuse to meet these requests.

Luciana Minassian, a lawyer and specialist on international law who monitors the cases of the Armenian hostages in Azerbaijan, told Gatestone:

“Trials that lack transparency and fail to meet the standards of due process transform the judicial system into a tool for political retribution. This not only violates the Geneva Conventions but also damages the credibility of the prosecuting state, inviting international condemnation and setting a dangerous precedent for future conflicts. Releasing POWs immediately is not just a legal obligation—it is a moral imperative. Compliance with the Geneva Conventions preserves the integrity of international law, reinforces mutual respect among warring parties, and ensures that states remain accountable to their commitments.

“However, Azerbaijan continues to ill-treat and even torture the Armenian hostages it illegally holds.”

Despite the November 9, 2020 ceasefire agreement, the Azeri aggression or threats against Armenia have never ended. On September 12, 2022, Azerbaijan launched a deadly attack across several regions of Armenia’s eastern border, killing more than 200 Armenian soldiers and capturing parts of southern Armenia. During that military offensive, Azeri soldiers raped, slaughtered, and mutilated an Armenian female soldier. They then posted on social media images of her abused and tortured body.

In December 2022, Azerbaijan started its starvation siege targeting Artsakh. For nine months, Armenians in Artsakh were blockaded by Azeri forces and deprived of sufficient food, medication and their right to freely travel. And on September 19 and 20, 2023, Azerbaijan bombed Artsakh and forcibly displaced the entire Armenian population – around 120,000 people.

Kathryn Hemmer, a human rights scholar and Genocide Studies Program student fellow at Yale University, wrote of Artsakh:

“The territory, which declared independence in 1991, was home to a predominantly ethnic Armenian population until Azerbaijan launched a 10-month blockade and military assault in 2023. Now, the continued imprisonment of many of Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders has further victimized a population that just experienced what is arguably one of the most overlooked episodes of ethnic cleansing in recent history.”

The Trump administration needs to make Azerbaijan release these hostages. US President Donald Trump needs to sanction Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other Azeri officials for carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Nagorno-Karabakh that continues to threaten the territorial integrity of Armenia while refusing to release the Armenian POWs and hostages.

Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.