Artsakh Union has sent to the European Parliament its and its partners’ latest and most comprehensive report on the 23 Armenian hostages unlawfully held in Azerbaijan. The report was prepared together with partner organizations — the International and Comparative Law Center, the NGO “Rule of Law”, the “Armenian Legal Defense”, and a group of individual human rights defenders.
Seven of the captured Armenians have already been subjected to sham trials and sentenced to prison terms of 15 to 20 years. The remaining sixteen now face the danger of similarly staged verdicts before military courts in Baku.
Artsakh Union urgently calls on Members of the European Parliament to travel to Baku and attend the upcoming court hearings — a critical step toward ensuring transparency, preventing further violations, and holding Azerbaijan accountable in accordance with international law.
Show Trials and Systemic Abuses
Azerbaijan’s criminal proceedings against these hostages are processes turned into political show trials and form part of a broader strategy aimed at shifting blame onto the victims and covering up the crimes committed against the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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A number of international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, Freedom House, and the U.S. Department of State, have documented Azerbaijan’s lack of an independent and impartial judiciary. The U.S. Department of State has stated that there are “credible indications that judges and prosecutors took instructions from the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Justice, particularly in politically sensitive cases,” and has noted that it is very often impossible to ensure a proper trial in politically motivated cases.
The European Court of Human Rights has identified “a troubling pattern” of retaliatory prosecutions and arbitrary detention targeting government critics, civil society activists, and human rights defenders.
Political Persecution and Historical Parallels
The ongoing politically motivated prosecution of the 23 Armenian prisoners constitutes yet another act carried out in gross violation of international law. This strategy reflects the genocidal “decapitation program” implemented by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in 1915, an attempt to eliminate community leadership and sow fear.
Azerbaijan’s message to the 150,000 forcibly displaced Armenians is clear: do not return; Any attempt to return to their homeland will be met with further persecution.
Legal Status as State Hostages
Under international law, all 23 captives meet the definition of state hostages. Article 1 of the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages defines the offense as seizing or detaining a person and threatening harm in order to compel a third party, including a community, to act or refrain from acting, as a condition for the person’s release.
A Pattern of Anti-Armenian Discrimination
These sham trials are a vivid example of Azerbaijan’s longstanding and systemic policy of discrimination against Armenians, meticulously documented by UN treaty bodies and Special Procedures, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, the Council of Europe, and leading international human rights organizations.
Key Findings of the Report
The new report by Artsakh Union and its partners details the following:
• The individual situation of all 23 hostages, including their procedural history, charges, and the conditions of the sham trials currently underway in Azerbaijani courts;
• Documented violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including denial of prisoner-of-war status, lack of fair trial guarantees, politically motivated charges spanning decades, and credible information regarding torture and ill-treatment;
• The deterioration of monitoring and oversight mechanisms, especially following the expulsion of the International Committee of the Red Cross from Azerbaijan in 2025;
• The response of the international community, including numerous demands and calls from EU institutions, UN Special Procedures, the International Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights for the immediate release of the captives;
• Recommendations that must be urgently implemented by the international community.
Artsakh Union and its partners call on the international community to act decisively and without delay.
Among other steps, the presence of Members of the European Parliament in Baku is crucial for ensuring accountability, protecting the rights of the Armenian captives, and preventing further violations.
Artsakh Union
