Dear supporter,
Thank you for choosing to support the campaign for Armenian hostages and POWs! We aim to reach 50.000 signatures, so please kindly share the petition link once a while with your friends and groups on social media!
British-Armenian is an independent, non-governmental group of volunteers, with no political affiliation and zero funding from any business, religious or political organisation. We have been campaigning for the release of all Armenian hostages since November 2020 via monthly Open letters to world leaders, peaceful protests in London, letters and e-mails to British politicians and Parliament, meetings with decision makers. Our press releases highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis of Armenian hostages and POWs tortured, abused and murdered in captivity.
To continue our campaign for the rights of Armenian captives, public support and donations are vital. Without public support, we would not be able to support families of Armenian POWs and keep this daily campaign alive and getting desired outcomes!
We have created an official fundraiser for British Armenian group and highly encourage you to donate: https://bit.ly/3D2gPBK
Thank you for your generosity!
Petition update of August 2022:
Since the trilateral Ceasefire Agreement of 9 November 2020, Azerbaijan continues its provocative actions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, while the warmongering and expansionist rhetoric has become an integral part of the daily discourse of the leadership of Azerbaijan.
Violating international humanitarian law, the Third Geneva Convention relative to treatment of prisoners of war from 12 August 1949, and article 8 of the Agreement of November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan continues to hold over 100 Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages, while the fate of hundreds of missing persons remains unresolved. According to the latest official data, almost two years after the 44-day war, 203 people are still considered missing. Almost two years have passed since the war, yet the relatives of soldiers, who went missing in the 44-day war, they have not heard from them.
Azerbaiajan admists to have only 38 Armenian hostages, a figure repeated by the Armenian administration [1]. According to data collected by our group and confirmed by human rights lawyers representing families of hostages at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), there are at least 118 Armenian prisoners still held in Azerbaijan.
Latest repatriation case involved Eduard Martirosov, who was captured from the positions of Nerkin Hand village in the Syunik region on April 23 [2] and was returned to the Armenian side on May 26 [3].
On 26 July, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan blasted Azerbaijan for continuing to hold Armenian prisoners of war and accused Baku of using the captives “as a political tool.” [4]
As already reported, 60 Armenian captives have already been convicted on various charges, from illegal border crossing to terrorism, 18 of them have been returned to their families but 42 remain in captivity in Azerbaijani prisons.
We remain particularly concerned about the mistreatment and the health of Vicken Euljekjian, age 41, Ludwig Mkrtchyan, age 53 and Alyosha Khosrovyan, age 55, who have the longest sentences: all sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in summer 2021. The family of Lebanese-Armenian civilian hostage Vicken Euljekjian has not been able to contact him for several months and is deeply worried about his mental and physical health and his detention conditions.
With almost 38,000 people supporting this Petition across the world, we continue our peaceful fight for the rights of innocent hostages held unlawfully by Azerbaijani regime, demanding from decision makers of the United Nations, the OSCE Minsk Group and the Council of Europe and their human rights’ bodies to:
- urgently send out international monitors or or observers to visit Armenian hostages and POWs in Baku and report back to families about their health and detention conditions;
- resolutely demand from Azerbaijan the immediate release of all ethnic Armenian civilian hostages and POWs in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention on Treatment of Prisoners of War;
- condemn Ilham Aliyev’s family-run dictatorship for conducting the ethnic cleansing of native Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ongoing aggressions of the borders of Republic of Armenia, destruction of historical heritage of Armenian people of thousands of years which violates international laws, human rights and obligations binding all UN member states, and destabilises wider regional peace.
Thank you for your commitment to justice and human rights and for your support to this campaign! We aim to reach 50.000 signatures, so please kindly share the petition link once a while with your friends and groups on social media!
Our mission is not yet fulfilled; we are not stopping #UntilTheyAreHome,
Members of the British-Armenian humanitarian group
E-mail: info@britisharmenian.org
Twitter: twitter.com/arm_brit
Facebook: facebook.com/BritishArmenian
Instagram: instagram.com/british_armenian
Support our fundraising initiative here: https://gofund.me/2da11309
Support our petition: chng.it/RDJGymybNN
__________________________________________________________
[1] https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31867331.html
[2] https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31818554.html
[3] https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31869579.html
[4] https://asbarez.com/yerevan-says-baku-holding-armenian-pows-as-political-tool/