Armenia expresses concern over the ‘torture’ of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan

Armenia has claimed Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan have been subjected to torture, citing evidence observed in photos published by Azerbaijan. More concerns are accumulating over the possible closure of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Azerbaijan, with its possible consequences for Armenian prisoners.

Following the claims of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani state-run media outlet APA reported on Tuesday that Azerbaijani human rights defender Sabina Aliyeva had visited Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

According to a statement released afterwards, former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan and former President Bako Sahakyan, as well as other ‘individuals’, were ‘interviewed and medically examined’. The statement also claimed that Vardanyan and Sahakyan, as well as other imprisoned Armenians, said ‘that they had been treated humanely since their detention’.

APA noted that the visit was conducted with the members of Aliyeva’s National Preventive Group on the Prevention of Torture.

In contrast, Armenians on social media, as well as human rights defenders and some government officials, pointed out the wounds on Vardanyan’s face and Sahakyan’s apparently broken and missing teeth.

It was the latest evidence of alleged torture of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. According to official figures from Baku, Azerbaijan has acknowledged custody of 23 Armenian prisoners.

On 28 February, the Armenian Foreign Ministry stated there were ‘clear signs of torture’ of detained individuals in Azerbaijan.

On Wednesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that ‘prohibited influence is taking place through prohibited means, including physical, psychological, and pressure tools, and according to some information we have, by other prohibited means’.

In late January, Pashinyan expressed concern that the trial was ‘not only seriously worrying, but will be, and is being used to provoke new escalations in the region’.

Risk of ‘crimes against life’

Armenia has also expressed alarm over the Azerbaijan authorities’ intention to close down the ICRC. Following reporting by Azerbaijani pro-government media, the ICRC said on 5 March that the Azerbaijani government had informed them of its intention to close their offices in Azerbaijan.

UNDP, UNHCR, and ICRC ‘told to leave’ Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani government has consistently used state media to discredit civil society organisations prior to shutting them down.

OC MediaXandie (Alexandra) Kuenning

‘Its closure means that Azerbaijan is halting the functioning of the mechanism that could ensure the protection of the rights of Armenians with its limited capabilities’, Siranush Sahakyan, the Armenian prisoners' war representative at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told CivilNet.

Sahakyan added that at the moment, the ICRC is the only international organisation that visits Armenians, and after its closure, ‘we will not have international involvement at all, and the level of arbitrariness will significantly increase, in which conditions we do not exclude crimes against life’.

Sahakyan also argued that Azerbaijan ‘has a non-cooperative stance with international organisations dealing with torture issues’. To support her point, she cited a statement from the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in July 2024 on the lack of cooperation from the Azerbaijani side.

‘No torture prevention mechanism has had the opportunity to visit Armenians held in Azerbaijani prisons at this time, which has created favourable conditions for their torture’, Sahakyan said.

While Pashinyan has argued that ‘possible diplomatic efforts are being made’ by his government to secure the release of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan, Vardanyan’s lawyer Jared Genser has argued that ‘there is also so much more PM Pashinyan can do’ for the release of Armenians, presenting his own list of suggestions, including requesting the support of the US and the EU.

On Tuesday, letters were submitted to the Foreign Ministry of Armenia and to Switzerland with a request to ‘implement a mechanism for consular access through a third country for Armenian prisoners in Baku’. The letter was signed by over 40 non-governmental organisations.

Several demonstrations have taken place in Yerevan since 28 February, calling on the government and international organisations to pressure Azerbaijan to release Armenian prisoners — including former Nagorno-Karabakh officials — being tried in Azerbaijan.

At the same time, Mane Tandilyan, the president of Country to Live, a party affiliated with Vardanyan, said that she suffered from medical complications as a result of her hunger strike. Tandilyan went on hunger strike on 1 March, to urge Vardanyan to stop his own, which he began on 18 February in protest against his imprisonment in Azerbaijan.

Protests in Yerevan calling for release of Armenians held in Azerbaijan

Demonstrations have been held in Armenia calling for the release of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan