70-Year-Old Armenian POW Vagif Khachatryan in Critical Condition in Baku Prison

The health condition of Vagif Khachatryan, an Armenian man imprisoned in Azerbaijan, has sharply worsened. Azerbaijani media outlets have reported that Khachatryan has been hospitalized and is now in critical condition.

According to these reports, Khachatryan, who is 70 years old and is being held in Azerbaijani captivity, began to feel seriously unwell on December 22. He reportedly experienced severe breathing problems along with pain in his heart. Due to the seriousness of his condition, prison authorities transferred him to a medical facility under Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Justice.

The reports state that Khachatryan received intensive medical care at that facility. However, doctors did not observe any significant improvement in his health. Because of this, he was later transferred to a state medical institution capable of providing more advanced treatment. His condition has since been described as critical.

Khachatryan’s imprisonment dates back to July 29, 2023, when he was abducted by Azerbaijani authorities from an illegal checkpoint installed in the Lachin Corridor. At the time of his detention, he was under the protection of the International Committee of the Red Cross and was traveling to Armenia for urgent medical treatment.

Despite this, he was taken to Baku, where Azerbaijani authorities brought charges against him. He was accused of allegedly “participating in genocidal actions against Azerbaijanis” during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Armenian officials and human rights advocates have described these accusations as fabricated. In November 2023, an Azerbaijani court sentenced Khachatryan to 15 years in prison.

In recent months, Khachatryan had very limited contact with his family. Reports indicate that he was allowed to make brief phone calls, organized by the Azerbaijani side, during which he could speak with relatives for only a few minutes at a time.

At the time of his abduction, Khachatryan was 67 years old and was traveling from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Yerevan for heart surgery. He was accompanied by his daughter and was being transported through the Hakari Bridge under the supervision of the Red Cross.

Since September 3, the situation for Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan has worsened further. The Red Cross office in Baku stopped operating after it was closed at the request of the Azerbaijani authorities. As a result, Armenian prisoners and hostages held in Baku have been deprived of their only reliable channel for communication with their families and access to independent humanitarian monitoring.

This has raised serious concerns about the health, treatment, and legal conditions of Armenian detainees, particularly elderly prisoners and those with chronic medical problems.

Following reports about Khachatryan’s critical condition, The Armenian Report attempted to contact his daughter for comment. However, no response had been received at the time of publication.

Khachatryan’s deteriorating health has once again drawn attention to the fate of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, as concerns grow over medical care, humanitarian access, and the safety of those in detention.

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