The 56-year-old Lyudvig Mkrtchian was taken prisoner by Azerbaijani during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh in which he fought as a volunteer. A year later, an Azerbaijani court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for war crimes allegedly committed during the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war in 1991-1994. He denied the accusations.

Mkrtchian is one of at least 19 Armenians, including eight former leaders of Karabakh, remaining in Azerbaijani captivity. They are allowed to speak with their families in Armenia by phone once in every one or two months.

According to Mkrtchian’s wife Hranush, during their phone conversations in recent months he has complained of his worsening condition and lack of adequate medical care in an Azerbaijani prison.

“He is in very poor health. He has shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches and problems with heart and lungs,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

“Although he was told [by Azerbaijani prison officials] that he is alright, he said he is very unwell. He is short of breath when talking,” she said, adding that Mkrtchian did not have any health issues before his captivity.

Up until last year, the Azerbaijani authorities allowed representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to periodically visit the prisoners to inspect their detention conditions, inquire about their health and arrange phone calls between them and their families. The Red Cross lost that exclusive access after being forced to close its mission in Azerbaijan in September.

Siranush Sahakian, an Armenian lawyer representing the captives, said shortly afterwards that some of them claimed to have tried to commit suicide in phone calls with their relatives in Armena. Later in 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Azerbaijan to submit fresh information about their detention and health conditions.

Hranush Mkrtchian said that she is now waiting for the authorities in Baku to present the Strasbourg court with the results of a recent electrocardiogram of her husband’s heart conducted in the prison. She said prison medics did not show him those results.

The Armenian government maintains that it has been doing its best to try to secure the release of the 19 prisoners. The government’s critics dismiss these assurances and accuse it of being indifferent to the prisoners’ fate. Davit Ishkhanian, one of the former Karabakh leaders held in Azerbaijan, has gone farther, saying that Yerevan does not want Baku to free them.

—