Armenian Legal Center: Release of Four Armenian Detainees Does Not Erase Years of Illegal Detention or Ongoing Hostage-Taking by Azerbaijan

Washington DC / Yerevan – The Armenian Legal Center for Justice & Human Rights (ALC) welcomes the safe return to Armenia of Vagif Khachatryan, Vigen Euljekjian, Gevorg Sujyan, and Davit Davtyan, who were transferred today from Azerbaijani custody after enduring years of illegal, politically motivated, and inhumane detention. Their release brings relief to their families and communities—but it does not deliver justice, nor does it cure ongoing violations by Azerbaijan.

These men were unlawfully held in Baku’s prisons under conditions that violated the most basic guarantees of international humanitarian and human-rights law. Their return cannot obscure the central truth: Azerbaijan engaged in prolonged hostage-taking and coercive detention, and today’s transfer does not undo that crime, nor does it resolve the grave violations that remain ongoing.

“These Armenians should never have been detained—and selective releases are no substitute for justice,” said Ken Hachikian, Chairperson of the Armenian Legal Center. “Despite clear obligations affirmed by the European Parliament, the U.S. Congress, and the November 9, 2020 agreement, Azerbaijan continues to hold Armenians as leverage. The demand is simple: free everyone still unlawfully detained, disclose the fate of the missing, and stop using human beings as bargaining chips.”

Critically, today’s transfer occurred in parallel with Armenia’s handover of two Syrian nationals serving life sentences to Syrian authorities via Türkiye. This sequencing makes clear that today’s development was a prisoner exchange, not an unconditional humanitarian act. Any attempt to portray Azerbaijan’s actions as “confidence-building” is a distortion of reality and an affront to international law.

At Least 19 Armenians Remain Unlawfully Imprisoned in Baku

ALC remains deeply alarmed by credible and well-documented reports of torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and fundamentally unfair proceedings imposed on Armenian detainees in Azerbaijani custody. Human Rights Watch and other international observers have documented abuse of Armenian POWs, while fair-trial monitors have raised serious concerns regarding opaque proceedings, political interference, coerced confessions, and predetermined outcomes—hallmarks of show trials, not justice.

Today’s development is not closure. With the release of these four Armenians, at least 19 others remain unlawfully imprisoned in Baku, including leaders of the former Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Their continued captivity is not a bargaining chip or a diplomatic footnote—it is an ongoing human-rights and humanitarian-law crisis demanding urgent international action.

ALC’s Demands

The Armenian Legal Center calls for immediate, coordinated international action to secure:

1) The immediate and unconditional release of all remaining Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan, without exchanges, political concessions, or delay.

2) Truth and accountability for the forcibly disappeared and missing, including full disclosure of detention records and locations, and—where applicable—the return of remains. International humanitarian law imposes an affirmative duty to account for missing persons and recognizes families’ fundamental right to know the fate of their loved ones.

3) No repetition of the “Safarov precedent.” The two Syrian nationals transferred today were convicted in Armenian courts for mercenarism and related war crimes and were serving life sentences. Their transfer must not result in pardon, impunity, or glorification—outcomes that would echo the Safarov case, where a convicted murderer was celebrated rather than held accountable. Any such result would fuel further violence, injustice, and hatred and must be categorically rejected by all parties and the international community.

Justice Is Not Selective—and Peace Cannot Be Built on Hostage-Taking

We are relieved that four Armenians are finally free. But we categorically reject any attempt to frame their return as a “generous gesture” by the detaining power. Equally, Armenian authorities must not allow human lives—POWs, detainees, the missing, or the forcibly disappeared—to be instrumentalized for domestic political positioning or electoral messaging.

Peace cannot be built on hostage-taking. Justice cannot be built on selective releases.

Until every Armenian unlawfully held in Baku is freed; until the fate of every missing person is fully clarified; and until the right of return of forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians is guaranteed and implemented in accordance with international law, this crisis remains unresolved—and the world must treat it as such.

The Armenian Legal Center for Justice & Human Rights is a legal and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting Armenian rights and pursuing accountability for human-rights violations through domestic and international legal mechanisms.

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Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights

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Washington, DC 20036

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