{"id":1477,"date":"2025-10-22T12:52:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1477"},"modified":"2025-10-23T12:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:59:49","slug":"lawyers-submit-petition-to-un-working-group-demanding-immediate-release-of-vicken-euljekjian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1477","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers Submit Petition to UN Working Group Demanding Immediate Release of Vicken Euljekjian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Geneva<\/strong> \u2013 Lawyers have submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), demanding the immediate release of Vigen Euljekjian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal representatives of 46-year-old Armenian tour guide Vicken Euljekjian<\/strong>, who has been arbitrarily detained in Azerbaijan, have officially appealed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD)<\/strong>, calling for his immediate release. They cite serious violations of international law<\/strong> and the harsh detention conditions that endanger his life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Euljekjian was arrested on November 10, 2020, in Shushi (Nagorno-Karabakh)<\/strong> \u2014 one day after the ceasefire that ended the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. On June 14, 2021<\/strong>, the Baku Military Court<\/strong> sentenced him to 20 years in prison<\/strong> on charges of \u201cmercenary activity\u201d<\/em> and \u201cterrorism.\u201d<\/em> His lawyers argue that both his detention and conviction are arbitrary<\/strong> and violate the protection of fundamental human rights<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition, submitted by Mar\u00eda Luciana Minasian (Argentina)<\/strong> and Aitor Mart\u00ednez Jim\u00e9nez (Spain)<\/strong>, presents two main arguments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Violation of jurisdiction<\/strong> \u2013 Azerbaijan treated Euljekjian as a civilian. Still, it tried and sentenced him in a military court<\/strong>, in direct contradiction to the established precedent of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), which holds that military courts lack jurisdiction over civilians<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Misapplication of the \u201cmercenary\u201d charge<\/strong> \u2013 Under the Geneva Conventions<\/strong>, Euljekjian, as an Armenian citizen<\/strong>, cannot legally be classified as a mercenary.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Additionally, the lawyers have requested the recusal of Working Group member Ganna Yudkivska<\/strong> due to a potential conflict of interest<\/strong> stemming from her professional ties with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR)<\/strong> and personal connections with Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The petition also references the expert opinion of Luis Moreno Ocampo<\/strong>, founding Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)<\/strong>, as well as an official complaint filed by the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ)<\/strong> in Los Angeles \u2014 an organization defending the rights of Armenians affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Luciana Minasian<\/strong> is an Argentine-Armenian lawyer representing Armenian victims, a professor of Genocide Studies at the University of Tucum\u00e1n, and a candidate for the Senate of Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Aitor Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> is a Spanish lawyer and professor with extensive experience working with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention<\/strong>. He has represented Julian Assange<\/strong> and other prominent figures worldwide, successfully bringing cases before the UN<\/strong> and other international tribunals<\/strong>. Mart\u00ednez also serves as a legal counsel at the International Criminal Court (ICC)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD)<\/strong> is an independent body of experts<\/strong> appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)<\/strong> in 1991 to investigate cases in which individuals are deprived of their liberty in violation of international human rights standards. It issues legal opinions, appeals, and recommendations<\/strong>, including those concerning release and compensation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Geneva \u2013 Lawyers have submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), demanding the immediate release of Vigen Euljekjian. The legal representatives of 46-year-old Armenian tour guide Vicken Euljekjian, who has been arbitrarily detained in Azerbaijan, have officially appealed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), calling for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-english","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1479,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions\/1479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}