Le Figaro calls on Aliyev to immediately release all Armenian prisoners

More than 150 international figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winners Oscar Arias and Leymah Gbowee, former presidents and international business leaders, are calling on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to release the Armenian prisoners currently detained in Baku, writes Le Figaro.

After imposing an illegal blockade that lasted for more than 9 months, preventing the supply of fuel, medication and food, Azerbaijan launched a bloody military offensive on September 19 to invade the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, with hundreds of people being killed and thousands being injured.

Le Figaro notes that this invasion led to the forced displacement of almost all of the region’s 120,000 indigenous Armenians. This is undoubtedly ethnic cleansing, condemned by a significant part of the international community. Moreover, several human rights organizations have described these events as genocide.

“In this context, Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian philanthropist, humanitarian activist and former Minister of State of the Republic, was illegally arrested while trying to leave for Armenia. His arrest is particularly alarming, as his high-profile commitment to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has made him a target of the Azerbaijani government. The same applies to the three former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, and other former officials, David Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, David Ishkhanyan and Davit Manukyan. Many other Armenians continue to be illegally detained in Baku’s jails. The lack of available information about their health and well-being is deeply disturbing.

These people were detained in gross violation of international law, in particular the UN Charter and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Azerbaijan is a party. The conditions of their detention are particularly alarming, notably due to the lack of communication with their families, the absence of regular independent monitoring, as well as the refusal to provide them with access to international lawyers.

Azerbaijan must respect international legal standards and human rights, on which peace and stability depend,” Le Figaro writes, calling on Aliyev to “immediately release all illegally detained people.”