Vicken Euljekjian, a Lebanese-Armenian and Armenian citizen who has been illegally imprisoned in Azerbaijan since 2020, has been on a hunger strike in a Baku prison since late April and has now been hospitalized and placed in a ward after protesting Azerbaijan’s inhumane treatment of Armenian detainees.
While this critical situation unfolds, Armenia’s government remains shamefully inactive, wrote Mane Tandilyan on Facebook, criticizing the government’s lack of response to the plight of Armenians held in Azerbaijani prisons.
Euljekjian’s hunger strike, now in its second week, is a desperate plea for justice and human dignity.
“This is another extreme step by our compatriots to demonstrate Azerbaijan’s inhumane treatment of them,” said Tandilyan, calling on international organizations to act urgently. “The international community must take immediate measures to release our compatriots in Baku prisons.”
The case of Vicken Euljekjian has once again brought to light the alarming scale of political and ethnic persecution faced by Armenians in Azerbaijan. His situation is documented in a report by the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ) titled “Azerbaijan’s Ongoing Persecution of Christian Armenians: The Case of Vicken Euljekjian.”
A 44-year-old devout Christian and descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors, Euljekjian moved to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from Lebanon in 2020 with hopes of building a peaceful life with his family. On November 10, 2020—just one day after the ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan—he was captured by Azerbaijani special forces while evacuating from Shushi.
Despite being a civilian uninvolved in combat, he was illegally transferred to Baku, held incommunicado for nearly seven months, and denied access to legal representation and family contact.
In June 2021, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a military court in a closed trial widely denounced as unjust. He was charged with terrorism, mercenary activity, and illegal border crossing—accusations that human rights groups have stated were entirely fabricated.
The report further reveals that during his detention, Azerbaijani forces burned off a Christian cross tattoo from his arm, highlighting the religious persecution involved in his case.
He is currently held in the notorious Gobustan prison, known for its inhumane conditions and high suicide rates among inmates.
