{"id":1899,"date":"2026-07-24T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:03:49","slug":"serious-injury-reports-raise-new-alarm-over-conditions-of-armenian-hostages-held-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=1899","title":{"rendered":"Serious Injury Reports Raise New Alarm Over Conditions of Armenian Hostages Held in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Families report fractures, severe health deterioration, and lack of medical care as human rights lawyer urges urgent international intervention<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh reports of serious injuries and rapidly deteriorating health among Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons have intensified concerns over their treatment and underscored the urgent need for independent international monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Siranush Sahakyan, the legal representative of the Armenian captives before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and director of both the International and Comparative Law Center (registered in Armenia) and the Armenian Legal Center (registered in the USA), disclosed on Friday that credible information received from the prisoners’ families indicates that some detainees have sustained serious injuries, including bone fractures, while in Azerbaijani custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have received reports of serious injuries,” Sahakyan told RFE\/RL’s Armenian Service<\/em>. “We have no way to verify this ourselves. Of course, I don’t think the families have any motive to provide incorrect or false information. At this point, we trust that information.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether the reported fractures could have resulted from violence, Sahakyan said that such a possibility cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“We cannot determine the causes, but in some cases the reports concern a worsening of existing health conditions, while in others there are circumstances that could suggest elements of violence or outside intervention.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While declining to identify the prisoners concerned, she warned that the reports are sufficiently serious to raise fears for their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Families are also informing us about the deteriorating health of the captives. In some cases, we have received very serious warnings, and if this information is accurate, the conditions could even be incompatible with life,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families Describe Rapid Physical Decline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Relatives of Armenian prisoners likewise report that the physical condition of their loved ones has steadily deteriorated during years of detention without adequate medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For security reasons and to avoid possible retaliation by the Azerbaijani authorities, family members who spoke to RFE\/RL’s Armenian Service<\/em> requested anonymity. They described prisoners who have become severely emaciated after years of imprisonment and who repeatedly complain of worsening health during the brief telephone calls they are occasionally permitted to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deterioration has also become visible in the limited courtroom footage released by Azerbaijani state media during the trials of Armenian detainees. Families say those images reveal dramatic physical decline among men who had previously been healthy and physically strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One relative described the condition of a family member:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“He’s become very thin, just skin and bones. His lower teeth are gone. He doesn’t tell us directly, but during the court hearings you can see that his lower teeth are missing\u2014they’ve been broken.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Another family member recounted a recent telephone conversation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“He called and said, ‘We’re in bad shape\u2014all of us. One is suffering from heart problems, another from headaches. We’ve all been completely neglected.'”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The testimonies are consistent with concerns previously expressed by former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan. In a statement released from prison through his family in May, Vardanyan revealed that some of the Armenian prisoners “have no teeth,” although he did not identify those affected or elaborate on the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particular Concern for Long-Term Prisoners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Among the cases causing growing concern is that of Lyudvig Mkrtchyan<\/strong>, who has now spent six years in Azerbaijani captivity after being captured during the 2020 Artsakh War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, his wife, Hranush Mkrtchyan, warned that his health has deteriorated sharply in recent months. Speaking to RFE\/RL’s Armenian Service<\/em>, she said her husband now suffers from shortness of breath, dizziness, persistent headaches, and serious heart and lung problems. Because of the severe communication restrictions imposed by Azerbaijani authorities, she is able to speak with him only once every one or two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the families, none of the 19 Armenian prisoners currently held in Azerbaijan\u2014including those imprisoned for nearly six years as well as those detained following Azerbaijan’s military offensive against Artsakh in September 2023\u2014have meaningful access to comprehensive medical examinations or independent healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent Verification Remains Impossible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sahakyan emphasized that obtaining objective information about the prisoners’ condition has become virtually impossible since Azerbaijan forced the closure of the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and several other international organizations in the country last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then, ICRC representatives had periodically visited Armenian detainees, monitored their conditions of detention, and facilitated communication with their families. With those visits no longer taking place, no independent humanitarian organization has regular access to the prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the only available information comes from brief telephone conversations with relatives, limited courtroom appearances, and fragmented videos released by Azerbaijani media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sahakyan, information received from families is carefully documented and transmitted to international institutions capable of raising the issue through diplomatic channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Court Awaits Azerbaijan’s Report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The European Court of Human Rights has required Azerbaijan to submit updated information regarding the detention conditions and health status of the Armenian prisoners by 31 August<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sahakyan said the medical documentation that Azerbaijan is obliged to provide will be carefully compared with the information collected from families over recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Strasbourg Court cannot compel Azerbaijan to allow independent physicians to examine the prisoners, it has ordered the Azerbaijani government to safeguard their health and physical integrity and to refrain from any actions that could place their lives at risk. The Court’s request for updated medical records forms part of those interim measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nineteen Armenian Hostages Remain in Azerbaijani Custody<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nineteen Armenian hostages continue to be held by Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They include eight former senior officials of the Republic of Artsakh who were detained following Azerbaijan’s military takeover of the region in September 2023. After proceedings that lasted more than a year and were widely condemned by international human rights organizations, five of those former officials were sentenced to life imprisonment in February, while three others\u2014including former Artsakh State Minister and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan\u2014received 20-year prison sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty International described the proceedings as a “travesty,” arguing that they failed to meet fundamental standards of due process and fair trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Calls for Release Continue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The latest reports regarding the prisoners’ health come amid continued international concern over their continued detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee<\/a> called on Azerbaijan to immediately release the Armenian hostages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Azerbaijani parliament, the Milli Majlis, responded by rejecting the appeal, claiming that the congressional resolution contained unfounded accusations and alleging that it represented an attempt to exert political pressure on Azerbaijan through the influence of the Armenian lobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the initialing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty in Washington on 8 August, 2025, prospects for the prisoners’ release remain uncertain. Neither the peace treaty nor the accompanying declaration signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan includes any commitment by Azerbaijan to release the remaining Armenian hostages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The absence of such provisions has intensified criticism within Armenia that the fate of the detainees has not been adequately addressed during the peace process. The Armenian government has rejected those accusations, insisting that it continues to pursue the prisoners’ release through diplomatic and legal channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the latest reports of serious injuries, alleged violence, deteriorating health, and the continuing lack of independent access to the detainees have renewed calls for urgent international engagement to ensure the protection of the Armenian hostages and to secure their immediate release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Families report fractures, severe health deterioration, and lack of medical care as human rights lawyer urges urgent international intervention Fresh reports of serious injuries and rapidly deteriorating health among Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons have intensified concerns over their treatment and underscored the urgent need for independent international monitoring. Siranush Sahakyan, the legal representative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,12,5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-the-hostages","category-advocacy","category-english","category-news","category-trials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899","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=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1905,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/1905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}