Editor’s note: This statement was released June 29, 2026. 

Today, the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States, Armenian Youth Federation-Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Eastern United States and Armenian Youth Federation of Canada reaffirm our call for justice and the immediate release of Armenian hostages illegally held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

June 29, 2026, marks the 1,000th day of illegal detention for many Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan. While many have now endured more than 1,000 days in captivity, others have remained behind bars for more than 2,000 days.

The known Armenian hostages who remain illegally detained by Azerbaijan, together with the duration of their captivity, are as follows:

Davit Ruben Ishkhanyan – 1000 Days
Arayik Vladimir Harutyunyan – 1000 Days
Arkadi Arshavir Ghukasyan – 1000 Days
Bako Sahak Sahakyan – 1000 Days
Levon Henrik Mnatsakanyan – 1004 Days
Davit Klim Babayan – 1005 Days
Ruben Karlen Vardanyan – 1006 Days
Davit Antranik Manukyan – 1006 Days
Arakel Marat Babayan – 1014 Days
Rashid Aramayis Beglaryan – 1063 Days
Alyosha Aramayis Khosrovyan – 2096 Days
Lyudvig Mkrtich Mkrtchyan – 2079 Days
Garik Martirosyan – 1000+ Days
Levon Balayan – 1000+ Days
Davit Allahverdyan – 1000+ Days
Vasili Beglaryan – 1000+ Days
Melikset Pashayan – 1000+ Days
Gurgen Stepanyan – 1000+ Days
Erik Ghazaryan – 1000+ Days

In addition to this, the Armenian Legal Center states there are at least 80 forcibly disappeared and more than 200 missing persons from Artsakh post-2020 that Azerbaijan is not fulfilling its obligations to investigate and acknowledge them.

For 1000 days, Azerbaijan has subjected Armenian hostages to illegal detention, torture and abuse, sham trials and politically motivated prosecutions intended to legitimize its genocide of Artsakh. These proceedings are not exercises in justice, but rather instruments of political persecution designed to criminalize the leadership of Artsakh, rewrite the historical record and normalize the consequences of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing campaign.

Politically targeted and captured during and in the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh because of what they represent: the Republic of Artsakh and the Armenian people’s right to live free and sovereign on their indigenous homeland — our hostages have been continually neglected by the current regime in Armenia, reflecting a deliberate unwillingness to advocate for those who embody Artsakh’s sovereignty and the Armenian people’s right to self-determination. In a recent communication, Davit Ishkhanyan, former speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh and a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, recalled that Azerbaijani authorities told him, “You will be here for as long as Armenia’s authorities wish it.” Ishkhanyan’s statement was clear: Azerbaijan is confident that the anti-Armenian dictatorship under the leadership of traitor Nikol Pashinyan and its syndicate of thugs and corrupt politicians will continue to treat the fate of Armenian hostages as subordinate to its anti-Armenian agenda. Further reinforced by reports that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan requested that the issue of Armenian hostages be excluded from trilateral discussions between Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United States, this reality is unmistakable: any effort to exclude their freedom from such negotiations effectively leaves their fate in the hands of the very regime responsible for the genocide of Artsakh. Any agreement that excludes the immediate release of all Armenians illegally detained by Azerbaijan is not a path to peace, but a continuation of injustice and subjugation.

This ongoing injustice should also serve as a clear message to the Armenian people that the anti-Armenian dictatorship under the leadership of traitor Nikol Pashinyan has failed to make the freedom of Armenians illegally detained by Azerbaijan a national priority and has presented no meaningful strategy to secure their release.

While we unequivocally advocate for the immediate release of every Armenian civilian, prisoner of war and political hostage illegally detained by Azerbaijan, it is equally important to recognize the distinct legal and political circumstances surrounding their captivity. Characterizing all those held in Baku solely as prisoners of war risks reinforcing Azerbaijan’s false narrative that the September 2023 genocide and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh occurred in the context of war, rather than as the forced displacement of an indigenous Armenian population from its homeland. Many of those imprisoned are political hostages, illegally detained by the very regime that denies the existence of the Republic of Artsakh while seeking to prosecute its leaders for defending it.

Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, one of many Armenian political hostages illegally detained in Baku, faces more than 40 politically motivated charges, including treason and terrorism, before a state that has no lawful basis to prosecute him. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in its recent report, “Justice Under Pressure: Independence of Lawyers and the Right to a Fair Trial in Azerbaijan,” concluded that the military court proceedings against former Artsakh officials are marked by “systemic violations of fair trial rights” and constitute “potential political show trials.” Azerbaijan simultaneously denies the existence of the Republic of Artsakh while prosecuting its officials for treason against Azerbaijan, exposing the fundamental contradiction at the heart of its politically motivated prosecutions.

Our hostages continue to face sham trials, grave violations of their human rights, persecution at the hands of the Azerbaijani government and abandonment by the current Armenian government. Through this statement, the three AYF regions of North America reaffirm the urgent need to continue pursuing the freedom of every Armenian illegally detained by Azerbaijan. At this critical moment in Armenian history, we cannot afford to ignore or abandon one another. Those who require our attention and support most as a people and nation must not be allowed to go unnoticed or forgotten. Only an anti-national, anti-Armenian, traitorous government under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan could deliberately work in a manner that allows these men to remain behind bars when they need the unwavering support of the Armenian nation most.

The Armenian Youth Federation Western United States, Armenian Youth Federation-Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Eastern United States and Armenian Youth Federation of Canada call for the immediate release of all Armenians illegally detained in Baku and the full dismissal of the fraudulent charges brought against them. Let this statement serve as both a renewed call to continue the pursuit of justice for these prisoners and an appeal to all Armenians to reject the complacency of the current Armenian government in its responsibility to secure their freedom.

Armenian Youth Federation Western United States

Armenian Youth Federation-Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Eastern United States

Armenian Youth Federation of Canada