There has been no news from Vicken Euljekjian, 45-year-old Armenian Lebanese civilian hostage since 21 February 2025, when International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Beirut visited his family and showed the latest video from Vicken. ICRC office in Baku has been the only organisation allowed to visit Armenian hostages held unlawfully in Azerbaijani prisons for years. ICRC was also organising the video and telephone communication between families and Armenian hostages. During the past two years, families were allowed to send a small parcel with dry food, tea, coffee and cigarettes to their relatives in Baku prisons. No other organisation, Church or legal representative was authorised to visit Armenian hostages.
Though the worse had yet to come, when the international media reported that ICRC Headquarters in Geneva had confirmed that after 30 years the Azerbaijani government had ordered the closure of its office and operations in Baku. This meant that Armenian hostages would be totally abandoned, and nobody would be allowed to visit them by Azerbaijan’s dictator in the foreseeable future.
‘We had no hope to hear from Vicken ever again’, told Linda, Vicken’s wife on telephone from Beirut. ‘But on Saturday, 3rd of May, the telephone rang, and I heard the voice of Vicken, I was shocked. I asked him how he was allowed to call and he replied that following two weeks of hunger strike, the prison guards had let him to talk to his family for couple of minutes. After 15 days, they let him call me. Vicken is a Hero, there is no other word to describe him’, Linda said. ‘After those few words, the phone was disconnected, and no further call or news from Vicken, his health.’
‘We are extremely worried, in the February video, Vicken looked like an old man and had lost half of his weight. Now, that he has started hunger strike, we are extremely concerned about his physical and mental state again’, added Christine, Vicken’s daughter on the phone.
Meanwhile, international human rights law, especially the Third Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (PoW) states that ICRC has the obligation to visit every prisoner of war, access information about his/her health and well-being. Azerbaijan is once again contemptuously breaking international laws, especially following the Ceasefire of 9 November 2020, ALL hostages should have been exchanged at once. Not only Azerbaijan held back hundreds of Armenian PoWs but continued taking dozens of new hostages. Armenia, on the other hand, has returned all hostages to Azerbaijan. Several dozens of PoWs have been returned, but Baku has confirmed holding 23 Armenians who have been sentenced in sham trials.
Born in Lebanon to Armenian parents, Vicken Euljekjian has Catholic heritage, who married his childhood sweetheart Linda in the Armenian Catholic Church Saint Saviour, in Bourj Hammoud, where he was also baptised. Two years ago, Vicken’s grief-stricken mother died from heart failure in Beirut, praying for her son’s return from captivity. Vicken’s young daughter Christine’s (in the photo at her grandmother’s grave) childhood was shattered too, as she has been very close to her father, as well as to her late grandma.
Vicken Euljekjian was captured with Maral Najarian near Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh on 10.10.2020, hours after the Ceasefire was announced, and they transported to Baku prison. Maral Najarian, also Lebanese Armenian, was released after four months imprisonment, on 10 March 2021. Meanwhile Vicken, on the other hand, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in summer 2021 during sham Baku trials, where he had no access to family lawyer or adequate representation. Vicken, one of 23 Armenian hostages, has been in high security prison for over 4.5 years, isolated and silenced.
Unfortunately, it seems that Vicken’s hunger strike is the last resort to bring to the attention of decision makers, Catholic and other religious leaders, international organisations the dreadful state of Armenian hostages and demand their immediate release by Azerbaijani authorities.
In April one of the final emblematic gestures of kindness by Pope Francis was his visit to prisoners in Rome, when he was very ill himself; it was an extremely touching moment, conveying the humility and generosity of a religious leader. Would the Catholic Church representatives visit also Vicken and other Armenian hostages to bring them some comfort and hope too?
British Armenian Humanitarian Group has been campaigning for the release of Armenian hostages and PoWs since December 2020. Our Petition addressed to world leaders was launched in January 2021, and has almost 45,000 signatures, one of the most successful campaigns on Armenian issues. Please continue signing and sharing the Petition for Armenian hostages to raise awareness about this humanitarian disaster. With the help of this Petition, addressed to world leaders, we aim to reach 50.000 supporters, so please kindly SHARE the the link below on social media, WhatsApp, email: chng.it/RDJGymybNN
To continue our campaign for the rights of Armenian captives, public support and donations are vital. By helping us, you are helping us to help the families of Armenian hostages back home. We have created an official fundraiser and highly encourage you to donate on our fundraiser: https://gofund.me/2da11309
British Armenian Humanitarian Group
Email: britisharmenian2020@gmail.com
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References:
https://www.reuters.com/world/red-cross-says-azerbaijan-ordered-it-leave-country-2025-03-05
