{"id":1764,"date":"2026-05-20T21:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1764"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:40:09","slug":"two-month-delay-raises-questions-over-armenias-response-to-armenian-hostages-held-in-baku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1764","title":{"rendered":"Two-Month Delay Raises Questions Over Armenia\u2019s Response to Armenian Hostages Held in Baku"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWS.am received a response<\/a> from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia regarding Armenian hostages held in Baku exactly two months after submitting its inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Armenia\u2019s Law on Freedom of Information, written inquiries must be answered within five days of receipt. The law further stipulates that \u201cif additional work is required to provide the information requested in writing, the information shall be provided to the applicant within 30 days after receipt of the request. In such cases, within five days of receiving the request, the applicant must be informed in writing of the reasons for the delay and the final deadline for providing the information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inquiry, submitted to the Foreign Ministry on March 16 of this year, received a highly generalized response only on May 15. Preparing the routine response provided by the ministry clearly did not require the maximum 30-day period permitted by law. Moreover, following the submission of the inquiry, no notification was sent regarding the delayed response or the reasons for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raises serious questions as to whether the matter reflects official negligence, lack of professionalism, or simply the Armenian Foreign Ministry\u2019s attitude toward the fate of Armenian hostages being held in Baku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, NEWS.am publishes both its March 16 inquiry and the Foreign Ministry\u2019s response sent on May 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEWS.am Inquiry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Mr. Mirzoyan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the family of Ruben Vardanyan issued a deeply concerning statement, publishing an audio message by Vardanyan addressed to the Azerbaijani Ombudsman. In the released recording, it can be heard how his call is interrupted while he attempts to make a public appeal to Azerbaijan\u2019s Ombudsman, Sabina Aliyeva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also alarming that more than a month has passed since the \u2018verdicts\u2019 were announced, yet the detainees still have not received the full texts of the judgments. This may effectively deprive them of the opportunity to appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In such a situation, what steps is Armenia\u2019s foreign policy establishment taking to protect the rights of its citizens?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Response from the Armenian Foreign Ministry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn response to your inquiry, we inform you that addressing the issue of Armenian prisoners and detained persons in Azerbaijan remains at the center of attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and is regularly raised during bilateral meetings with Azerbaijan\u2019s international partners, as well as on multilateral platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia regularly meets with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and discusses the issue of visits to prisoners and detainees held in Baku. Despite the closure of the ICRC office in Baku, the organization visited them on December 24\u201325, 2025, and efforts are underway to ensure continuity in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the framework of the commitment to establishing and strengthening peace, as well as through ongoing dialogue and confidence-building measures, discussions with the Azerbaijani side continue with the aim of securing the release of detained Armenian individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of this dialogue, and in continuation of previous processes, on January 14, 2026, four Armenian individuals \u2014 Gevorg Sujyan, Davit Davtyan, Vigen Euljekjian, and Vagif Khachatryan \u2014 were repatriated to Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ani Badalyan
Press Secretary to the Minister\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should also be noted that during the same period, NEWS.am submitted similar inquiries regarding Armenian prisoners to both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the European Union Ambassador to Armenia, both of whom responded promptly and within appropriate timeframes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWS.am received a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia regarding Armenian hostages held in Baku exactly two months after submitting its inquiry. Under Armenia\u2019s Law on Freedom of Information, written inquiries must be answered within five days of receipt. The law further stipulates that \u201cif additional work is required […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1765,"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-1764","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\/1764","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=1764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}