Maria Acuña

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

Remember their stories, fight for their freedom!
#FreeArmenianHostages

Erik Ghazaryan, born in 1985, was detained by Azerbaijani forces in late September 2023 following Azerbaijan’s military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh. He is currently in preventive detention and is being tried before the Baku Military Court alongside 14 other Armenian citizens.

He is accused of involvement in a criminal organization under multiple articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, including charges related to genocide, mercenarism, and terrorism.

At a court hearing on 3 March 2025, Ghazaryan reportedly stated that he had not killed anyone and surrendered because he did not want to fire on Azerbaijani soldiers.

According to testimony from the preliminary investigation read in court in September 2025, Ghazaryan said he was born in Armenia’s Gavar District, completed military service in Armenia, and in 2021 signed a three-year contract to serve in Nagorno-Karabakh, where he remained until September 2023. At a subsequent hearing, he reportedly confirmed only the statement given during the court investigation.

At the hearing on 13 November 2025, the prosecution requested a 16-year prison sentence.

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

https://t.co/LUiHPwTuqW

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@Haut_Karabagh @FreeArmenianPOW @VilledeNice @cestrosi @cdcaancfrance @ccaf_france @FreeArmenianHostages

[Artsakh-Karabagh @Haut_Karabagh]

Nice mobilisée pour les prisonniers arméniens

Le 17 décembre 2025, à l’Hôtel de @VilledeNice, le Maire et Président de la Métropole, @cestrosi, aux côtés de l’ensemble du Conseil municipal et en partenariat avec le @cdcaancfrance et le @ccaf_france, organise une cérémonie de soutien appelant à la libération des otages arméniens détenus en Azerbaïdjan depuis 2023, après l'annexion de la République d’Artsakh et l’exode forcé de sa population.
Nous remercions chaleureusement le Maire de Nice, le Conseil municipal et l’ensemble des élus pour leur engagement fidèle aux côtés des Arméniens d’Artsakh et de leurs familles.

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

Remember their stories, fight for their freedom!
#FreeArmenianHostages

Garik Martirosyan, born in 1972, was detained by Azerbaijani forces in late September 2023 following Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. He is currently in preventive detention and is being tried before the Baku Military Court alongside 14 other Armenian citizens.

He is accused of involvement in a criminal organization under multiple articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, including charges related to genocide, mercenarism, and terrorism.

According to pro-government Azerbaijani media, at a court hearing on 6 March 2025, Martirosyan stated that he served at front-line positions in the Aghdam region during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and later in Asgaran during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

On 29 August 2025, the court terminated the participation of his defense lawyer and appointed a new one. During hearings in early September 2025, Martirosyan’s preliminary investigation testimony was read and reportedly confirmed, alleging his service at combat posts from the early 1990s through September 2023.

At the hearing on 13 November 2025, the prosecution requested a 19-year prison sentence.

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

Remember their stories, fight for their freedom!
#FreeArmenianHostages

Davit Ishkhanyan is an Armenian politician and statesman who has served as President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh since August 2023. He was born on 27 December 1968 in the village of Ashan, Nagorno-Karabakh (then part of the USSR). He previously served as a deputy of both the Supreme Council and the National Assembly of Artsakh and is a member of the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

On 3 October 2023, Davit Ishkhanyan was arrested by Azerbaijani forces in Stepanakert and taken to Baku. He remains in preventive detention and is being tried before the Baku Military Court alongside 14 other Armenian citizens. He faces multiple charges under Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, including allegations of genocide, mercenarism, and terrorism.

According to open sources from Azerbaijani media, Ishkhanyan made statements during several court hearings in 2025. During the hearing on 1 May 2025, a video was shown in court allegedly depicting him obstructing Azerbaijani soldiers near Shushi. Ishkhanyan disputed the authenticity of the video, stating that his physical condition at the time—he was using a cane—would have made such actions impossible.

In subsequent hearings, his preliminary investigation testimony was presented. Ishkhanyan requested that only the testimony he gave during the court proceedings be considered. He also asked the court to provide a list of internationally registered organizations and media outlets operating in Azerbaijan; this request was denied.

At the hearing on 13 November 2025, the prosecution requested that Davit Ishkhanyan be sentenced to life imprisonment.

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@LemkinInstitute @FreeArmHostages @FreeArmHostages

[Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention @LemkinInstitute]

As the Christmas holiday approaches, the Lemkin Institute strongly urges U.S. President Donald Trump to take measures to secure the immediate release of Armenian prisoners being held illegally by Azerbaijan. These hostages have been all but abandoned by the outside world, despite the fact that they are being held by a state that has fought three genocidal wars against Armenians in the past five years. Their release would constitute a major humanitarian and geopolitical victory for the President and would strengthen his efforts to secure long-term peace in the South Caucasus and the Middle East.

As President Trump seeks to project U.S. strength globally, a successful effort to release Armenian Christian hostages from Azerbaijan would establish his authority over not only Azerbaijan, but also Israel and Türkiye, two U.S. allies that have made a habit of wagging the dog, no matter how illegal, immoral, or contrary to long-term U.S. national security interests their policies are.

We believe that supporting and securing the return of all the Armenian hostages will underscore President Trump’s stated mission of bringing peace to the region and will buttress U.S. strength from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. While President Trump has repeatedly emphasized his role in promoting stability and preventing further conflict, this mission remains weak as long as an unknown number of Armenian POWs continue to be held in Azerbaijan.

We remind the President that he promised to protect Armenian Christians during his campaign.

Armenian Apostolic Christians celebrate Christmas on January 6. We urge the U.S. President to bring the hostages home to their families before then.

To read the full letter: https://t.co/zphb7CSEP7

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@MinassianOk @FreeArmHostages

[Luciana Minassian @MinassianOk]

PRESS RELEASE

Christmas Without Contact: Armenian Prisoners Held Incommunicado in Azerbaijan as Health Concerns Deepen

Buenos Aires / Beirut – 18 December 2025

As the Christmas season approaches, the family of Lebanese-Armenian detainee Vicken Euljekjian, imprisoned in Baku, confirms that no further communication has been permitted for over one month. The last and only recent phone call took place approximately thirty days ago. Since then, complete silence has followed, with no updates regarding his health, medical treatment, or living conditions.

During that last call, Mr. Euljekjian informed his wife that his health had severely deteriorated, that he was no longer able to walk, and that prison authorities were refusing to provide prescribed medication. More than thirty days later, there is no confirmation that he has received medical care, nor has the family received any medical records.

These concerns extend beyond one individual. Twenty-two (22) other Armenian detainees remain imprisoned in Azerbaijan under similarly restrictive conditions, deprived of regular communication with their families during a period of deep religious and emotional significance. Sixteen of them are still undergoing sham, illegal and arbitrary trials, awaiting for their sentences.
For Christian prisoners, Christmas is a particularly sensitive time, and prolonged isolation inflicts additional psychological suffering on both detainees and their loved ones.

Communication with detainees in Azerbaijan remains severely restricted, and the expulsion of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has eliminated the only independent humanitarian mechanism that previously allowed families to receive messages, medical confirmations, or welfare updates. This has created a total vacuum of independent oversight.

Despite repeated requests, the family of Vicken Euljekjian has not received his medical records, which are normally transmitted from Baku to Yerevan and then forwarded to families. Because his family resides in Lebanon, the process requires additional coordination. To date, no authority has contacted his wife, leaving the family without critical medical information.

Legal representatives have formally supplemented the active case before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) with these new developments. This procedural step ensures that the denial of medical care, loss of mobility, and prolonged incommunicado detention are recorded as new evidence within the existing UN review.

At the diplomatic level, the family has pursued all available channels. Three letters have been sent to President Donald Trump, two letters to President Javier Milei of Argentina, a personal letter to President Isaac Herzog of Israel, and correspondence to the First Lady of the United States, urging humanitarian intervention and medical access.

The continued silence surrounding Mr. Euljekjian’s condition, combined with the absence of independent monitoring, raises grave concerns for his safety and dignity, as well as for the other Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

The family and the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR), Buenos Aires Chapter, urgently call on international institutions, governments, and human rights bodies to restore humanitarian access, ensure medical treatment, and allow detainees to communicate with their families, particularly during this Christmas period.

Issued by:
Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR) – Buenos Aires Chapter
Iman Arous (Linda) Euljekjian, wife of Vicken Euljekjian
Luciana Minassian, President, SOAR Buenos Aires Chapter

@LindaVicken
@SOARchapterBsAs
@ArmenianElderly

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

Remember their stories, fight for their freedom!
#FreeArmenianHostages

Davit Davit Davtyan (born 5 February 1993) is a founder of the New Armenia Homeland-Diaspora Charitable NGO that delivered humanitarian aid to Stepanakert.
On 11 November 2020, after the ceasefire had already come into force, he was captured by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces while traveling to Shushi via the Lachin corridor.

Davit Davtyan was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, including Article 228 (illegal possession of weapons), Article 276 (espionage), Article 279 (creation of an illegal armed formation or group), and Article 318 (illegal crossing of the state border). His case was heard by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, presided over by Judge Ali Mammadov, with hearings held between 14 July 2021 and 28 July 2021.

Following the trial, Davit Davtyan was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

‼️President Aliyev @presidentaz Proposes Amnesty on Occasion of the Year of Constitution and Sovereignty

According to Armenian media, the amnesty draft is expected to affect over 20,000 people, including those who participated in military operations defending Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, their relatives, and vulnerable groups. Over 5,000 prisoners are expected to be released, the sentences of more than 3,000 reduced, and nearly 4,000 granted conditional release.

We call for justice and humanity: 23 Armenian hostages are still being held. Each of them deserves to come home safely.

Every One Belongs Home — Release Them All!

#FreeArmenianHostages

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

https://t.co/uzRHTRuAHm

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@SOARchapterBsAs @FreeArmHostages @UNinAzerbaijan @MinassianOk @LindaVicken @JMilei @lilialemoine @varelacorina1 @FreeArmenianHostages

[SOARchapterBuenosAires @SOARchapterBsAs]

⚖️10 de diciembre - Día Internacional de los Derechos Humanos.
Honramos la declaración universal de la ONU.
Abogamos por el regreso de los 23 prisioneros ✝️ detenidos ilegalmente en Bakú.
Protejamos sus derechos y libertades.
https://t.co/14q8LpsKma
@UNinAzerbaijan @MinassianOk

[Free Armenian Hostages @FreeArmHostages]

"A diplomatic agreement announced at the @WhiteHouse on Aug. 8 offered a pathway to peace and an expectation that Armenian prisoners would be released. Yet Azerbaijan has not honored that commitment.

Washington holds significant leverage. Azerbaijan seeks stronger economic partnership with the West, closer defense and diplomatic ties, and cares deeply about its global legitimacy. And notably: it listens when the United States speaks.

This is where bold leadership matters.

President @realDonaldTrump has a well-documented history of personally intervening to secure freedom for individuals unjustly imprisoned abroad — from Sudan to Pakistan — when others hesitated. That same purposeful leadership could determine whether families are reunited or left waiting in despair.

(...) History will remember those who demanded justice — and those who allowed silence to prevail. As Christmas approaches, Christians around the world are watching and praying that action will once again be taken."

David Vardanyan in the Christian Post

@RubenVardanyan_
#FreeRubenVardanyan
#FreeArmenianHostages

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

https://t.co/GySjSm2qnu

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@MVDNoticias La justicia funciona. A veces tarda pero llega

[INFO CAPITAL @InfoCapitalTV]

#MVDNoticias
AHORA 🔴
➡️Fue procesado con prisión, Dardo Víctor Barrios, alias “El Zorro”, por el homicidio muy especialmente agravado de Horacio Gelós Bonilla (foto), ocurrido en 1976 y aún desaparecido.
⚖️Barrios ya había sido procesado por el homicidio del fotógrafo y militante del MLN, Eduardo Mondello.

[Maria Acuña @MacunaEsc]

@anagdelgado2 @infouex Físico claro. Pedagogico. Serio. Ineludible para las nuevas tecnologías