{"id":339,"date":"2024-11-23T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=339"},"modified":"2025-01-16T16:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T16:08:22","slug":"opinion-for-23-armenian-prisoners-cop29-offers-a-last-chance-at-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=339","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: For 23 Armenian Prisoners, COP29 Offers a Last Chance at Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Disclaimer: This article was submitted to the LSE Undergraduate Political Review<\/a> by a non-organisational author. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily endorsed by and\/or reflective of the position of the LSEUPR.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

COP29 in Azerbaijan is drawing to a close, and with it, a fleeting opportunity to free\u00a0twenty-three<\/a>\u00a0Armenian hostages and prisoners of war (POWs) currently held in arbitrary detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the very city hosting this year\u2019s international climate conference, the prisoners face\u00a0trumped-up<\/a>\u00a0charges, near-certain\u00a0torture<\/a>, and ongoing\u00a0violations<\/a>\u00a0of basic due process rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COP29 isn\u2019t just failing to address climate change: it\u2019s\u00a0greenwashing<\/a>\u00a0one of the \u2018least free<\/a>\u2019 countries in the world according to Freedom House, where\u00a0repression<\/a>, state-sponsored\u00a0ethnic hatred<\/a>, and\u00a0threats against Armenians<\/a>\u00a0are a matter of daily policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One returned Armenian POW and torture survivor\u00a0recalled<\/a>\u00a0that from his prison window, he could see Baku\u2019s Flame Towers, built to celebrate Azerbaijan\u2019s natural gas supply. Today, in a bitter twist of irony, foreign dignitaries gather to discuss fossil fuel alternatives while Azerbaijan keeps hostages just miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the twenty-three prisoners are civilians, political leaders, and soldiers, including multiple ministers of state and\u00a0three former presidents<\/a>\u00a0of Nagorno-Karabakh. The majority were unlawfully\u00a0captured<\/a>\u00a0during Azerbaijan\u2019s\u00a0forced displacement<\/a>\u00a0of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh last year. 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\u2019s leaders has further victimized a population that just experienced what is arguably one of the most overlooked episodes of ethnic cleansing in recent history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the Armenian detainees, Azerbaijan currently holds a reported\u00a0300<\/a>\u00a0of its own citizens in political detention, including journalists and environmental activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s documented abuse of detainees raises grave concerns about the safety of those currently in detention. In 2023, the International Court of Justice\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0of Azerbaijan\u2019s systematic targeting of ethnic Armenians \u201cthrough sham trials based on fabricated charges.\u201d More recently, the UN Committee Against Torture\u00a0expressed<\/a>\u00a0its deep concern over the detention of the 23 Armenian hostages and POWs, citing \u201creports of severe and grave violations of international humanitarian law\u201d committed against ethnic Armenian prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s\u00a0widespread<\/a>\u00a0torture of prisoners is accompanied by the documented use of\u00a0forced confessions and extortion<\/a>. Testimonies from returned Armenian POWs\u00a0reveal<\/a>\u00a0a consistent pattern of abuse, including physical brutality, food deprivation, and exposure to extreme temperatures. Prisoners reported enduring severe beatings that left them unconscious for days, stabbings with barbecue skewers, and threats of death and forced disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the leadup to COP29,\u00a0the European Parliament<\/a>,\u00a0Freedom House<\/a>, and prominent activists, including\u00a0Greta Thunberg, called for the <\/a>release of the prisoners. Additionally, a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0signed by 60 members of U.S. Congress urged the \u201cimmediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, hostages, and POWs, including ethnic Armenians\u201d held by Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\u00a0presumed<\/a>\u00a0that political pressure would incentivize Azerbaijan to free the Armenian prisoners as a performative display of goodwill during COP29. Instead, Aliyev\u2019s regime has ignored environmental and human rights commitments throughout the conference,\u00a0arresting<\/a>\u00a0dissidents en masse,\u00a0suppressing protests<\/a>, and touting oil as a \u201cgift of God<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If held indefinitely, the prisoners risk being used as leverage in future political negotiations, given that Azerbaijan\u2019s use of detainees as bargaining chips is both well-documented and unabashed. This year\u2019s COP negotiations are a case in point. With\u00a0Eastern Europe<\/a>\u00a0designated to host COP29, Azerbaijan pressured Armenia into withholding its veto by\u00a0releasing<\/a>\u00a032 Armenian POWs. President Aliyev has openly flaunted such tactics, saying that he would release Armenian captives \u201clittle by little<\/a>\u201d to maximize political advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As COP29 concludes today, Armenian prisoners are poised to endure further mistreatment, humiliation, and torture at the hands of Aliyev\u2019s regime. Now\u2014before the global spotlight shifts away from Baku\u2014world leaders must act decisively to demand the prisoners\u2019 immediate and unconditional release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Kathryn Hemmer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author: Kathryn Hemmer is a Human Rights Scholar and Genocide Studies Program student fellow at Yale University, where her work focuses on atrocity prevention and accountability.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover Image Source: Robot8A via Wikimedia Commons (distributed via\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>),\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Baku_15_09_40_508000.jpeg<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: This article was submitted to the LSE Undergraduate Political Review by a non-organisational author. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily endorsed by and\/or reflective of the position of the LSEUPR. COP29 in Azerbaijan is drawing to a close, and with it, a fleeting opportunity to free\u00a0twenty-three\u00a0Armenian hostages and prisoners of war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-the-hostages","category-english","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","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=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions\/342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}