“The Azerbaijani authorities must immediately release Armenian citizens,” the European Parliament declared on Thursday as it overwhelmingly approved a resolution affirming that the Armenians being held captive are being subjected to “inhumane and degrading treatment.”
With 523 votes in favor, three against, and 84 abstentions, the strongly-worded resolution said that “23 Armenian hostages are being detained in Azerbaijan, including former de facto Nagorno-Karabakh officials and prisoners of war from the 2020 war and the ethnic cleansing that followed.”
The European Parliament emphasized that these people “are undergoing sham trials and facing serious charges that could result in illegal life imprisonment sentences.”
“During the trial, they are being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, including through banned psychoactive methods. Their rights to independent defense, interpreters, appeals, meetings with relatives, and postponement of court hearings for health reasons are regularly violated,” the text of the resolution said.
The resolution also highlighted that one of the defendants, Ruben Vardanyan, is continuing his hunger strike, which he ended while the members of the European Parliament were voting on the resolution.
Nevertheless, the resolution emphasized that Vardanyan’s hunger strike “is causing his condition, as well as that of the other detainees, to deteriorate sharply.” The European Parliament called on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure their rights, including access to medical care, and to provide an independent investigation into the conditions of their detention.
Also, the document highlighted the closure of the offices of the Red Cross and United Nations agencies in Azerbaijan, which is a matter of serious concern. “In this regard, the European Parliament calls on the EU Delegation and the EU member states’ embassies in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to regularly monitor the trials and visit detained Armenians,” the resolution added.
“The European Parliament calls on that the International Criminal Court to investigate the cases of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Also, the document demands full implementation of the decisions of the UN International Court of Justice, including on the protection of all detainees captured as a result of the 2020 war and subsequent military operations,” th resolution said.
The European Parliament has once again called for the suspension of the EU-Azerbaijan memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership in the field of energy, adopted in 2022.
In addition, European lawmakers insisted that any future partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan “be conditional on the release of all political prisoners, the improvement of the human rights situation in the country, and on Azerbaijan not unduly delaying the signing of a peace agreement with Armenia and its respecting the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, including the right to return.”
In a separate appeal addressed to the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the European Parliament recommended “imposing international sanctions against those involved in human rights violations, including prosecutors and judges Jamal Ramazanov, Anar Rzayev, and Zeynal Agayev.”
