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** Azerbaijan Continues to Illegally Hold, Torture Armenian Hostages ([link removed])
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by Uzay Bulut • January 24, 2025 at 5:00 am
* On January 17, Azerbaijan began trials of 16 Armenian captives... in military courtrooms, to which international media and observers have been denied access.
* The next court hearings are slated for January 27, during which court decisions are expected to be announced. As of now, the trials are open only to Azerbaijani state media.
* Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing against the Armenian people of Artsakh has been proceeding for the past four years.... Azeri soldiers posted videos and photos of themselves beheading and mutilating Armenians.
* "A court hearing of my case is scheduled for January 27 at 3:00 PM. I have been informed that I am facing 42 charges, some of which carry sentences up to life imprisonment. However, I have not been granted the opportunity to fully review the official indictment. My lawyer and I were merely allowed to skim through 422 volumes of the case files, all written solely in the Azerbaijani language, which I do not understand.... Moreover, pressure has been exerted on me, my lawyer, and my interpreter to force us to backdate and sign documents, including falsified protocols and records of interrogations that never took place.... Let me reiterate: all protocols bearing my signature are falsifications." — Ruben Vardanyan, former State Minister of Artsakh, January 16, 2025.
* One of the Armenian hostages tortured in an Azeri prison is Vicken Euljekjian... [detained] 10 hours after the ceasefire had gone into effect.... A court sentenced Euljekjian to 20 years imprisonment after a short trial without adequate legal representation.... Liparit Drmeyan, an aide to Armenia's representative to the European Court of Human Rights, said that Euljekjian did not have access to lawyers that were chosen by him.... [His wife said he] has requested a retrial and a lawyer, but the Azeri authorities refuse to meet these requests.
* The Trump administration needs to make Azerbaijan release these hostages. US President Donald Trump needs to sanction Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other Azeri officials for carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Nagorno-Karabakh that continues to threaten the territorial integrity of Armenia while refusing to release the Armenian POWs and hostages.

Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing against the Armenian people of Artsakh has been proceeding for the past four years. Pictured: The Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on October 13, 2020, after it was bombed by Azerbaijani forces. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)

Azerbaijan's government authorities refuse to release the Armenian hostages whom they have illegally held and abused since they captured them in 2020 and 2023.

On January 17, Azerbaijan began trials of 16 Armenian captives -- including the former leaders of Artsakh (Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh) -- in military courtrooms, to which international media and observers have been denied access.

In a press release, the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ) requested that Azerbaijan allow international legal experts to observe the trials. The request remains unanswered. The next court hearings are slated for January 27, during which court decisions are expected to be announced. As of now, the trials are open only to Azerbaijani state media.

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