Background

Human rights violations
in Azerbaijan

The conditions of the Armenian prisoners’ detention are deeply concerning. Azerbaijan has neglected to provide information on the health and well-being of these individuals. In April 2024, following Ruben’s hunger strike, his family and international counsel learned that he was placed in a punishment cell and subject to extreme treatment that amounts to torture. This includes being denied access to drinking water for over two full days; deprived of sleep through light exposure; and being forced to stand for extended periods of time. Of particular concern, Ruben was also denied access to his lawyer and held in incommunicado detention.

Since January 2025, the Baku Military Court has held dozens of closed sessions in Ruben’s case, openly defying international law that prohibit civilians from being tried before military courts. The process itself has been riddled with egregious due process abuses: Ruben has faced repeated restrictions on confidential access to his lawyers, arbitrary dismissal of diozens of defense motions, deliberate procedural delays, and the refusal to permit a forensic linguistic review, despite widespread translation errors in the indictment. The court has also admitted more than 100 alleged “victim” statements that all all inadmissible hearsay, with witnesses openly acknowledging that they never met Ruben and possess no direct knowledge linking him to the supposed harms – and saying their knowledge of his alleged involvement is simply that this is what the Government of Azerbaijan has told them.

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In February 2025, Ruben launched a second hunger strike, this time directly protesting what he called the “judicial farce” of his trial. He pointed to closed trial before the Baku Military Court and the extensive procedural abuses as grounds for his action. Even as his health deteriorated rapidly – his blood pressure reaching dangerously high levels, his weight dropping by six kilograms, and his physical weakness becoming evident in court–hearings continued behind closed doors without pause. After 23 days, Ruben suspended the strike, underscoring both his personal resilience and the protest’s symbolic challenge to injustice. This is a horrific situation and his family remain unaware of the full extent of his resulting psychological and physical trauma.

This mistreatment this violates Azerbaijan’s obligations under the Convention Against Torture as well as the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). Ruben and other Armenian prisoners are being detained in clear violation of domestic and international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It’s shocking to see Azerbaijan as a state party to these treaties yet so brazenly choosing to violate them so blatantly.

Unfortunately, Ruben’s terrible treatment is no surprise. Azerbaijan has a well-documented history of torturing political prisoners, particularly ethnic Armenian detainees. Given Ruben’s ethnicity, his status as a former high-level official in the Government of Nagorno-Karabakh, his outspoken criticism of Azerbaijan’s treatment of Nagorno-Karabakh and its people, and his detention at the hands of the State Security Service (which is notorious for the torture of ethnic Armenians), he is at imminent risk of further torture and ill-treatment. Azerbaijan must immediately stop these gross human rights abuses and fully respect all its obligations under international human rights law. In these circumstances, this requires the immediate and unconditional release of all the Armenian prisoners and their repatriation to Armenia.

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