European Parliament plenary session, during the debate of the motion for a resolution on \u201cUnlawful detention and sham trials of Armenian hostages, including high-ranking political representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nHe said that the European Commission has been following the ongoing trials against the Armenian hostages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are aware that human rights organizations have expressed concern regarding the fairness of these trials and the treatment of the defendants. Many of you have expressed similar concern, and today we are treating these issues very seriously, following the developments. The right to a fair trial must be guaranteed and respected. The EU\u2019s special representative to the South Caucasus is also closely following these issues and conveying our concerns to Baku authorities,\u201d the commissioner told the MEPs, adding that the EU-Azeri ties are based on principles that both sides must adhere to, such as human rights and rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThus, the EU will continue to call on the Azerbaijani government to fulfill its international obligations, which include the right to due process and fair trial. We will utilize all opportunities in order for Azerbaijan to be bound to ensure dignified and safe conditions for the detainees. The reports of torture and inhumane treatment must be urgently and impartially investigated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the EU will continue to support the Armenian-Azeri normalization process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe EU will continue to support this process with the use of all our instruments. We are ready to support the sides in dialogue aimed at establishment of lasting and sustainable peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Azerbaijan has officially acknowledged that it is holding 23 Armenian prisoners despite a post-war obligation to release all POWs and detainees. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nArmenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had earlier described the Azeri trial as \u201cmock trials.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe detainees include former top officials of Nagorno-Karabakh such as the former presidents Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan. They were arrested after the 2023 Azeri offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh which resulted in the forced displacement of the region\u2019s entire Armenian population of over 100,000. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe former officials are all facing fabricated charges in what many experts and officials have described as sham trials.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nVardanyan, whose case has been separated from the others, recently announced a hunger strike in protest of the sham trial. In a statement, he called on world leaders and the international community to interfere.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nVardanyan has vehemently denied all charges against him which include \u201cfinancing terrorism\u201d and \u201cillegally entering\u201d Karabakh. Vardanyan, as well as many experts, have described the charges as falsifications. The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo earlier slammed the charges as bogus, emphasizing that Baku is using the show trials to cover up its crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nJared Genser, Vardanyan\u2019s lawyer, recently said that his client\u2019s health is in danger.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Armenian Ombudsperson earlier called on all human rights organizations to intervene after receiving reports of torture and ill-treatment against the Armenian prisoners in the Azeri jail.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nArmenpress<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan J\u00f8rgensen has called for an immediate and impartial investigation into the reports of torture against Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijan. He made the remarks in his speech at the European Parliament plenary session, during the debate of the motion for a resolution on \u201cUnlawful detention and sham trials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":862,"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-861","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\/861","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=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}