On March 28, 2025, France 24 published a Spanish-language article on Armenian prisoners held in Baku. The article by Beatriz Arslanian discusses the ongoing detention of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijani jails, highlighting the judicial irregularities and human rights violations they face. Many prisoners, including political and military leaders, are charged with terrorism and separatism despite lacking evidence of involvement in armed conflict. The international community’s response has been limited, with diplomatic efforts proving ineffective. Human rights organizations report systematic abuse, while the detained prisoners, like Rubén Vardanyan, continue to endure harsh conditions and are denied fair trials.
This is the unofficial translation of the article.
Yerevan (Armenia) – The phone rang after days of waiting. Linda Euljekjian could barely recognize her husband’s voice. Viken was unrecognizable—not just because of the subdued tone in which he spoke, but because of what he was saying.
“He joked with me,” she says, “and he had never done that before. I’m sure they are giving him sedatives.”
Since his capture the day after the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in November 2020, Viken has remained in isolation, without any legal defense and subjected to torture, accounts of which his wife has only been able to piece together through secondhand testimonies.
In 2018, Viken decided to settle in Armenia from Lebanon. He opened a restaurant and worked as a taxi driver.
On November 10, 2020, he drove to the Shushi region of Nagorno-Karabakh to retrieve his belongings after the announcement of the end of hostilities. By then, the Armenian region was already under the control of Azerbaijani forces. A checkpoint manned by Azerbaijani soldiers intercepted his car and captured Viken along with his Lebanese-Armenian compatriot, Maral Najarian.
Following a judicial process in Baku, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of illegal border crossing, terrorism, and being a mercenary—despite never having been involved in the war.
Viken is one of 23 Armenians considered hostages who remain imprisoned in Azerbaijani jails. Among them are the political and military leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who were arrested during the mass evacuation following Azerbaijan’s military offensive in September 2023. This includes former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan, former Foreign Minister David Babayan, and former State Minister Rubén Vardanyan.
Azerbaijani authorities justify these detentions with charges of terrorism, separatism, and war crimes, claiming that these legal proceedings are legitimate exercises of their sovereign right to enforce national laws and ensure justice for alleged crimes committed on their territory.
According to Siranush Sahakyan, an expert in international law and legal representative for Armenian prisoners before the European Court of Human Rights, Azerbaijan’s judicial system “is not independent and functions as a tool of political repression and an extension of the executive power.” The expert states that Armenian hostages have been subjected to irregular trials with state-appointed Azerbaijani lawyers, without real legal defense or access to international observers to guarantee a fair trial.
Sahakyan states that there are no precedents in international law for these cases. “The Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals after World War II, as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia after 1991, operated at the international level. This reinforces the principle that such cases require an independent and objective ruling beyond national legal systems,” the expert explains.
She also adds that the trials do not comply with fundamental international standards established by instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Several international human rights organizations have confirmed cases of systematic torture and mistreatment, including beatings, mock executions, humiliation, sleep deprivation, and physical hardship in Baku’s prisons. In this way, Azerbaijan has established a pattern of punitive measures based on ethnic discrimination against Armenians.
As days pass without communication, families live in uncertainty and fear. Linda Euljekjian receives daily threats through social media and anonymous phone calls.
“They tell me they will find a way to kill him in prison, that they know where I am. But I will never leave him alone,” she says.
She took out her phone and showed an image of a human ear next to a knife, sent to her in recent days to make her believe it belonged to her husband.
On multiple occasions, Linda has considered traveling to Baku to visit her husband; however, the Red Cross has warned that it cannot guarantee her safety in Azerbaijani territory.
Recently, Azerbaijani media reported the expulsion of the International Committee of the Red Cross from the country. This was the only international organization with access to Armenian prisoners in Baku, providing them with humanitarian assistance, minimally monitoring their health, and facilitating communication with their families.
Other organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), as well as media outlets like BBC and Sputnik, have also suspended their operations in Azerbaijan by order of President Ilham Aliyev’s regime.
Rubén Vardanyan: A Symbol of Resistance
Among the detainees, the name Rubén Vardanyan has gained special prominence. The Russian businessman, philanthropist, and former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh moved to the self-proclaimed republic in 2022 with the goal of contributing to its development.
His arrest has not only been one of the most widely publicized but has also exposed the irregularities of Azerbaijan’s judicial system. One of the charges against him is “financing terrorism.”
International law expert Siranush Sahakyan asserts that most of the charges are absurd, as Vardanyan was never involved in previous wars or the 2020 conflict.
“They accused him of being part of Nagorno-Karabakh’s liberation and self-determination movement in 1989—when he was still a student at Moscow State University,” the lawyer explains.
Vardanyan has been denied full access to key documents in his own case, with case materials poorly translated, a closed-door trial, and his international lawyer, Jared Genser, barred from communicating with him.
As a form of protest, Vardanyan went on a hunger strike. During one of his latest court sessions, images surfaced showing visible signs of violence on his face and a significant loss of body weight. Despite his deteriorating health, the Azerbaijani court has refused to postpone the trial, forcing him to attend hearings.
His son, David Vardanyan, does not hesitate to call the process a “show trial” where legal principles have been completely ignored.
“Since his arrest over 550 days ago, Azerbaijan has chosen to use him as an example to all Armenians who defend their right to live in their ancestral lands,” he denounces.
In recent days, Rubén Vardanyan sent a message from prison demanding that his trial be open to international observers.
“It is not just me and 15 others on trial—this is a trial against all Armenians worldwide,” he declared. He also reaffirmed that his decision to move from Russia to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and renounce his Russian citizenship was entirely deliberate.
David fears for his father’s life and questions the lack of action from the international community.
“We have received many words of support, but that is not enough. We need concrete actions,” he demands. The family insists that economic and diplomatic sanctions are the only way to pressure Azerbaijan.
“If we allow Azerbaijan to get away with these grave violations of international law, the dictatorial regime will feel emboldened to commit more atrocities against Armenians worldwide,” the young man warns.
International indifference toward the situation of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan is growing. Despite clear evidence of human rights violations, Western governments have opted for formal statements instead of concrete measures. The European Parliament has condemned the detention of Armenian prisoners but has stopped short of imposing sanctions that could force Azerbaijan to change its stance.
“Geopolitical and economic interests often take precedence over human rights concerns,” says Rubén Vardanyan’s son, referencing the commercial, energy, and strategic ties between various states and Azerbaijan.
So far, diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the prisoners have been ineffective. Armenia has tried to include the issue in peace negotiations with Azerbaijan, but Baku uses the detainees as bargaining chips to extract political and territorial concessions.
The Armenian side continues drafting a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, and as long as diplomatic dialogue continues, international actors are hesitant to take measures that could disrupt the process.