International lawyers representing the families of seven Armenian hostages imprisoned in Azerbaijan have submitted an official request to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment, demanding their immediate and unconditional release. The application submitted on April 24, 2026, the day of remembrance of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, demands the annulment of the verdicts passed against those persons, claiming that they are the result of gross violations of international law and are arbitrary in nature.
The hostages, Davit Babayan, Madat Babayan, Levon Balayan, Vasili Beglaryan, Erik Ghazaryan, Davit Ishkhanyan, and Levon Mnatsakanyan, are Armenian citizens who were captured by Azerbaijani forces between September 19 and October 3, 2023, shortly after Azerbaijan’s military offensive against Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh). Among them are former political leaders of Artsakh, servicemen and one civilian.
Three of them, Davit Ishkhanyan (former Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh), Davit Babayan (former Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Levon Mnatsakanyan (former Minister of Defense and former Commander of the Defense Army), were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Baku military court on February 5, 2026. The other four received 15 to 19 years in prison. As of today, these persons have been in Baku prison for 934 to 948 days.
Although seven of the 19 hostages were selected for this round of the application, all Armenian captives meet the criteria for arbitrary detention and the Working Group’s conclusion will apply to all hostages.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment is a body of independent legal experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate cases of arbitrary deprivation of liberty around the world. The application was made because the prisoners’ families and legal teams have no realistic means of appealing their wrongful convictions inside Azerbaijan. The applicants argue that the deprivation of liberty of all seven persons is arbitrary based on the following criteria:
· Absence of a valid legal basis. The hostages were taken during an armed conflict that meets the definition of an international armed conflict under the Geneva Conventions. As combatants, they should have been recognized as prisoners of war and benefited from the protection and repatriation rights provided for in the Third Geneva Convention. Instead, Azerbaijan falsely prosecuted them for common crimes, including terrorism, illegal possession of weapons, and genocide. These charges cannot legally be brought against combatants who acted within the limits of the laws of war.
· Criminalization of political beliefs. Davit Babayan and Davit Ishkhanyan have peacefully defended the right to self-determination of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Just days before their arrest, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, publicly called the leadership of Artsakh “criminals”. The applicants claim that their deprivation of liberty is aimed at silencing political dissent, which is a direct violation of the rights to freedom of expression, opinion and association guaranteed under international law.
· Fundamentally unfair trials. The hostages were tried collectively, along with eight other Armenian defendants, in closed-door military proceedings and without access to lawyers of their choice. Five of the seven refused to confirm their testimony during the investigation, raising serious concerns among outside observers about the possible use of coercion and torture. Furthermore, the verdicts have not yet been officially delivered to the convicted, effectively depriving them of the opportunity to appeal.
· Denial of humanitarian access. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which visited Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan, was expelled from the country in September 2025. This removed the last independent control mechanism over prisoners.
· Illegal rental charges. Six of the seven captives named in the lawsuit were charged with mercenary charges. The applicants claim that this accusation is legally impossible to substantiate. both under international law and under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, a person cannot be considered a mercenary if he is a citizen or permanent resident of the conflicting party. All seven persons are representatives of the Armenian nation who lived in Nagorno Karabakh.
· Discrimination based on ethnicity and political views. The UN, the European Court of Human Rights and many international structures have documented the systemic nature of anti-Armenian discrimination in Azerbaijan, including in the justice system. The applicants argue that the prosecution of these individuals reflects that discriminatory pattern, and that they would not have been targeted or detained but for their Armenian identity and connection to Artsakh authorities.
The application was submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment pursuant to a number of UN Human Rights Council resolutions (1997/50, 2000/36, 2003/31, 6/4, 15/18, 20/16, 24/7, 33/30, 42/22 and 51/8).
These seven individuals are among the 19 Armenian prisoners currently being held in Azerbaijan following the 2020 and 2023 conflicts. Their plight has been repeatedly highlighted by the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights, Amnesty International and other major international organizations, all of which have called for their release and expressed deep concern about the detention conditions.
On March 3, 2025, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that “all those who are arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Azerbaijan, including ethnic Armenians, must be released immediately, and the rights to a fair trial must be fully respected.” The European Parliament has adopted six resolutions on this issue since 2021, the last one in March 2025. In addition, the International Court of Justice has published several decisions that require Azerbaijan to protect Armenian prisoners from harm and ensure their equality before the law. decisions that Azerbaijan did not fulfill.
The application requests the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Imprisonment:
1. Issue an official conclusion that depriving the hostages of their freedom will be recognized as arbitrary.
2. Call for their immediate release and demand compensation for the damage caused by their long and illegal deprivation of liberty.
3. Demand an opportunity for representatives of the Working Group to visit the Armenian hostages in Baku prison before their release.
The application, with the authorization of the prisoners’ families, was submitted jointly by the following persons:
· Siranush Sahakyan – Lawyer (Yerevan, Armenia)
· Artak Beglaryan – President of the Artsakh Union (Yerevan, Armenia)
· Aitor Martinez Jimenez – Lawyer (Madrid, Spain)
· Megan Chaureau-Lyon – Lawyer (Paris, France)
· Irene Massimino – Lawyer (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
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