The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported the news in its readout of Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov’s farewell meeting with the mission chief, Dragana Kojic. It said they discussed, among other issues, “the current state and prospects of the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia” and “the fate of missing persons.” They stressed the “importance of continuing cooperation with the ICRC through its headquarters in Geneva after the delegation [in Baku] ceases its activities at the beginning of September,” according to the statement.
ICRC officials have periodically been allowed to visit the 23 Armenian prisoners to inspect their detention conditions, inquire about their health and arrange phone calls between them and their families. They most recently did so in June. Some relatives of the prisoners said on Wednesday Red Cross officials have informed them that the Geneva-based organization will no longer have such access.
An IRCR spokeswoman in Yerevan did not explicitly confirm the information. But she did say that the Red Cross “will suspend its activities in Azerbaijan soon.” The Azerbaijani government announced plans to close the ICRC office in Baku early this year.
The prisoners include eight former political and military leaders of Karabakh who went on trial in January along with eight other Karabakh Armenians also captured during Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive. The Armenian government criticized the “mock trials” in February after weeks of effective silence condemned by its domestic critics.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed that explicit condemnation of the trials would only harm the defendants. Pashinian’s detractors countered that he is simply afraid of angering Baku. Some of them claim that he does not want the former Karabakh leaders, notably Armenian-born billionaire and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, to be freed.