Human Rights Advocate Confirms Suicide Attempts Among Armenians Held in Azerbaijan

The situation of Armenian captives in Azerbaijani prisons has reached a new and dangerous stage. Human rights advocates warn that prisoners are being held in complete isolation, suffering from psychological distress, and even attempting suicide. The government of Azerbaijan is deliberately using Armenian hostages as tools of political pressure, while Armenia has not taken sufficient action to protect its citizens abroad.

On September 3, Azerbaijan forced the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to shut down its office in Baku. This is a serious violation of humanitarian norms. For decades, the ICRC was the only international body allowed to visit Armenian prisoners of war, political detainees, and civilian hostages in Azerbaijan. With its office now closed, Armenian captives are left without independent monitoring, cut off from international humanitarian oversight.

According to Siranush Sahakyan, president of the Center for International Comparative Law and legal representative of Armenian prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights, Armenia has failed to take urgent steps that could provide relief to its citizens in Baku jails.

She explained that under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, when two states do not have diplomatic ties, it is possible to delegate the protection of one’s citizens to a neutral third country. For example, when the United States cut relations with Iran in 1979, it entrusted Switzerland with the protection of American citizens. Armenia could have used this same legal mechanism by requesting Switzerland or another neutral country to safeguard Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

In April, Sahakyan’s organization and the Union for Protection of Interests and Rights of Artsakh Peoples appealed to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry to pursue this option. However, to date, there has been no evidence that such a request has been officially made.

Armenia’s inaction leaves its prisoners exposed to Azerbaijan’s ongoing violations.

Sahakyan noted that Azerbaijan deliberately refuses to release Armenian prisoners because they are being used as bargaining chips. Baku holds hostages to extract political concessions from Armenia and to maintain leverage until a peace treaty is signed. This is part of Azerbaijan’s wider strategy of blackmail and intimidation, using human lives as tools of state policy.

Among those held in Azerbaijani prisons are some of the most senior former leaders of Artsakh, including three former presidents—Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan—as well as parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, and several military commanders. In addition, ordinary soldiers and civilians are being kept behind bars in violation of international law.

Officially, Baku acknowledges holding 23 Armenian captives. In reality, the number is much higher, including prisoners from the 2020 war and civilians abducted from Artsakh. Their continued detention shows that Azerbaijan is determined to erase Artsakh’s leadership while intimidating the Armenian nation as a whole.

The closure of the Red Cross office has already had tragic consequences. According to Sahakyan, several Armenian prisoners have attempted suicide in recent weeks. Families learned of these desperate acts during short and rare phone calls. The prisoners who attempted suicide are not from the former political and military leadership, which means ordinary captives are now reaching the point of hopelessness.

For the past two months, these prisoners have lived in total isolation. No international organizations have been able to visit them. Their health conditions remain unknown. Families report that during brief conversations, their loved ones sound weak, sick, and mentally broken. The absence of humanitarian monitoring is directly linked to their suffering and despair.

Even though Azerbaijan closed the ICRC’s office in Baku, this does not mean the Red Cross has no role to play. In past conflicts, the ICRC’s Geneva headquarters or nearby regional offices were able to provide humanitarian access when host countries refused to cooperate. Yet Azerbaijan continues to block such efforts, defying international humanitarian law and showing contempt for the most basic standards of human rights.

Sahakyan argues that Armenia must insist that the ICRC Geneva office or other neutral structures be allowed to visit the prisoners. However, Azerbaijan’s refusal demonstrates once again that it seeks to hold Armenians hostage until it achieves its political goals.

The imprisonment of Artsakh’s leaders and citizens is not just a violation of human rights—it is an attack on the very existence of Artsakh. By keeping the former presidents, ministers, and military commanders of Artsakh in its jails, Azerbaijan is trying to erase the memory of Artsakh’s statehood and silence the voices of those who defended their homeland.

This is part of Azerbaijan’s larger campaign against the Armenian people. The ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in 2023 was not the end of Baku’s aggression. The continued detention of Armenian hostages proves that Azerbaijan is not interested in peace but in domination, humiliation, and the breaking of Armenian will.

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