A group of French politicians demanded the release of Armenian prisoners held in Baku

ArmInfo. A group of French politicians issued an open letter calling for the release of Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

According to Le Figaro, 25 politicians from various political parties, including Bruno Retaille, Marine Tondelier, and Edouard Philippe, published an article in Le Figaro demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan since the start of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020.

The article notes that 20 Armenian prisoners arrested during the exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 are serving long prison sentences, including life sentences, under conditions that have raised concerns in the European Parliament and the US House of Representatives.

The signatories of the appeal believe that They claim that their detention could be used as leverage against Armenia, and argue that lasting peace in the Caucasus is impossible without justice and dignity.

It is recalled that most of them were arrested during the evacuation of their people during the ethnic cleansing that emptied Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian population in 2023. Twenty Armenians were sentenced by the Azerbaijani regime to harsh prison terms, some even to life imprisonment. The fate of these prisoners, completely cut off from the outside world and at the mercy of their captors, has long been a source of deep concern. Some have been imprisoned for three years, others for almost six, after being captured during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020.

It is added that the European Parliament and, less than two months ago, the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs called for their release. In France, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Paris City Council, and numerous local authorities also adopted resolutions on this matter.

"As part of this mobilization, an exhibition of portraits of these Armenian prisoners, organized in the first week of September by the Paris City Hall and the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF), drew attention to their plight and showed their faces. Deprived of their liberty, separated from their families, and hidden from the world, they are subject to arbitrary control by a prison system whose practices have long raised serious concerns. Their situation is all the more alarming given that no independent international organization is currently able to regularly visit them and freely report on their conditions of detention.

Furthermore, there are serious grounds for concern that their continued detention is being used as a tool to pressure Armenia into making further concessions in the complex peace process. If so, these prisoners are effectively hostages. In view of this unacceptable situation, we, the signatories of this text, echo the calls of French and European institutions and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

Finally, we reaffirm our simple conviction: in the Caucasus, as elsewhere, the peace we so ardently desire cannot be lasting if it is based on arbitrariness, humiliation, and neglect. There is no true peace without justice, freedom, and dignity," the article states.

The letter was signed by: candidate of the "Renaissance" movement In the presidential elections, Member of Parliament Gabriel Attal, candidate for

Presidents, President of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, Mayor of Alfortville Luc Karvounas, Mayor of Nice Eric Ciotti, Mayor of Valence Nicolas Daragon, Mayor of Montpellier Michaël Delafosse, Mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet, candidate of the Socialist Party in the presidential elections, First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Member of Parliament Olivier Faure, President of the Executive Council of Corsica Gilles Giovannangeli, candidate of Public Square in the presidential elections, Member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann, Mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux Thierry Lefèvre, Mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, President of the Pays de la Loire region Christel Morençay, Mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc, President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region Renaud Muselier, President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Fabrice Pannekoek, Mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, President of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, candidate of the Horizons party In the presidential elections, the president of the Horizons party and mayor of Le Havre, Edouard Philippe; the Republican Party's candidate in the presidential elections, Bruno Retaillo; the French Communist Party's candidate in the presidential elections, National Secretary of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel; the presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal; the mayor of Bastia and member of the executive council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni; the presidential candidate, National Secretary of the Green Party, regional councilor of the Hauts-de-France department, Marine Tondelier; and the president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Martin Vassal.

It should be noted that the exact number of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons is still unknown. Experts estimate their number at several hundred. Today, the Azerbaijani authorities confirm the presence of 19 Armenians in their custody. Among those held in Azerbaijani captivity are eight former and current members of the military-political leadership of Artsakh. These include former presidents of Artsakh Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan; former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan; as well as Parliament Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan; former Commander of the Artsakh Defense Army General Levon Mnatsakanyan; General David Manukyan; and former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan.

In February, a Baku puppet court sentenced Arayik Harutyunyan, David Babayan, David Ishkhanyan, David Manukyan, and Levon Mnatsakanyan to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges, and Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, and Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison. The so-called court sentenced the remaining Artsakh residents to up to 15 years in prison.