Politician slams 'unacceptable silence' over fate of former Artsakh leaders held in Baku

Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabyan has condemned the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries – the United States, France and Russia – for their “unacceptable silence and inaction” over the fate of former Artsakh leaders held in Azerbaijan.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Zurabyan reaffirmed support for former Artsakh Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as other detained officials, calling them political prisoners persecuted for exercising the right to self-determination.

The politician stressed that the 2023 capture of the Nagorno-Karabakh leaders violated international norms and followed Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Artsakh Armenians. He described the ongoing trials in Baku as a “farce devoid of legitimacy”, accusing Azerbaijani courts of fabricating evidence under torture.

Zurabyan criticized Armenia’s government for its “indifference” to the prisoners’ fate and urged it to make their release a precondition in any peace talks with Baku. He called on the international community, including the UN, OSCE and European institutions, to demand the prisoners’ freedom and denounce Azerbaijan’s violations of fair trial rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.