Dear supporter!
Thank you for your ongoing support to this PETITION for the release of Armenian POWs and civilian hostages!
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UPDATE 0F 20 MARCH 2024
On 19 March 2024 Bulgarian MEP Andre Kovachev held conference at the European Union on Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan illegally. In his speech during the conference, MEP Andrey Kovatchev emphasized that POWs and detained persons should be released immediately without preconditions. Despite the recent positive steps—the exchange of 32 POWs in december 2023, there is still much to be done, Kovatchev said.
At the EU conference, Siranush Sahakyan, a specialist in international law, stated that physical torture and mental abuse of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan has been ongoing since 2020 (https://news.am/eng/news/813254.html
While families of Armenian hostages have lost their hope in the victory of Justice, such events are essential, so that amid the raging wars in other parts of the globe, Armenian hostages are NOT FORGOTTEN, AND THE FIGHT FOR THEIR RELEASE CONTINUES.
British Armenian Humanitarian Group has been supporting several families of Armenian hostages since three years already, these families are telling us that they have no more hope that this inhumane tragedy would resolve positively. We are particularly concerned about the faith of Armenian hostages who have been abused mentally and physically for over three years, and risk to die in Azerbaijani jails.
The families of these hostages also tell us that their relatives are in lamentable physical and mental state accompanied with symptoms of health deterioration, depression, weight loss, and feel abandoned by the civilised world.
All Armenian hostages should be returned according to the Geneva Convention on POWs and the Universal declaration of Human Rights. As you certainly know, there are still dozens of Armenian hostages in Azerbaijani prisons, whereas 100s were brutally murdered in captivity already.
However, we would like to draw your attention to the most vulnerable hostages sentenced to long term imprisonments, who risk to die in Baku jails, as we witnessed the death of Alexander Navaly in Russia. We have identified the following Armenian hostages at the highest risk in Azerbaijani prisons:
1- Civilian Vicken Euljekjian (dob 1979), captured on 10.11.2020 and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in June 2021.
2- Serviceman Ludwig Mkrtchyan (dob 1969) captured in Octob.er 2020 and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in summer 2021.
3- Serviceman Alyosh Khosrovyan (dob 1967) captured in October 2020.
4- Civilian Davit Davtyan (dob 1993) captured on 11.11.2020 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in summer 2021.
5- Civilian Gevork Sujyan (dob 1989) captured on 11.11.2020 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
6- Pensioner Vagif Khatchatryan (age 69) suffering from grave heart condition, abducted in July 2023 from Red Cross vehicle and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in November 2023.
The above six hostages are Armenian nationals, and there is no proof of any accusations for which they have been sentenced to long-term imprisonments following sham Baku trials and held in the harshest prisons in Azerbaijan. They will die in prison, if they are not released, like 100s of Armenian hostages before them.
The above-mentioned Armenian hostages do not represent any threat to the Azerbaijani government, they are not significant for Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations. As we have witnessed in the past three years, Azerbaijani authorities do not release hostages in one go. Therefore we demand the release of those 6 hostages as soon as possible to save their lives.
The lives of Vicken, Ludwig, Alyosha, Davit, Gevorg and Vagif are precious to their long-suffering families, and to all who stand for human rights and justice!
We demand the immediate release of the above-mentioned innocent hostages and ALL Armenian captives in held Azerbaijan: it is ILLEGAL, INHUMANE and CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.