YEREVAN – The government of Azerbaijan on Wednesday released four Armenians taken hostage during its 2020-2023 military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The news was announced by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“Gevorg Sujyan, Davit Davtyan, Vicken Euljeckjian, and Vagif Khachatryan were handed over by the representatives of the relevant bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Hakari bridge and are now in the territory of Armenia,” he said in a Facebook post.
All four were civilians, with humanitarian volunteers Sujyan and Davtyan, as well as Euljeckjian captured by Azerbaijani forces following a ceasefire in November 2020. Khachatryan, 70, was kidnapped from a Red Cross ambulance during Azerbaijan’s 2023 blockade as he was being evacuated for a medical procedure in Armenia.
Armenia in parallel released two Syrian prisoners who had been apprehended fighting as mercenaries on behalf of Azerbaijan in 2020 and were serving life sentences in Armenia for international terrorism and war crimes. They were released to their home country via Turkey, according to the Armenian Ministry of Justice.
Azerbaijan acknowledges holding at least 20 other Armenian prisoners, who have been subject to sham trials and now face sentences amounting to life in prison. Dozens of others remain forcibly disappeared, according to human rights lawyers.
“The release of any hostage is welcome, yet it does not erase the injustice faced by those who remain imprisoned. Their continued detention constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” said Gegham Stepanyan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which maintains a representative office in Yerevan.
“We understand very well that Azerbaijan has turned this purely humanitarian issue into a political bargaining tool. The issue of hostages must never be equated with terrorists or subjected to political bargaining,” Stepanyan told CSI.
“We must work tirelessly, every day, to compel Azerbaijan to end the sham trials and release the Armenian hostages illegally held in Baku’s prisons,” he added.
Those hostages include the former political and military leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh, taken captive as the population fled following more than nine months of siege and military attack by Azerbaijan. They also include Karen Avanesyan, one of the handful of Armenians who attempted to continue living in their homes following Azerbaijan’s takeover, but who was detained and sentenced to 16 years in prison on December 25.
“We rejoice at the news that these men are free after years of torment, and will soon be reunited with their families. But we must not forget the 20 Armenian prisoners still held in Baku’s dungeons, or the nearly 80 Armenians who have been forcibly disappeared by Azerbaijan since 2020,” said Dr. John Eibner, President of Christian Solidarity International.
“Azerbaijan’s decision to release these four men in exchange for concessions shows that all of these hostages are exactly that – hostages. As long as Azerbaijan is still holding hostages, the peace negotiations are taking place under duress,” Eibner said.
He called on the United States and other parties involved in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process to demand the “immediate release” of all Armenian hostages.
Linda Euljekjian, wife of Lebanese-Armenian hostage Vicken Euljekjian, whose case CSI has taken up specifically, was in tears upon learning the news of her husband’s freedom.
The release of the four Armenian captives came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Washington, DC, and announced more details on the planned TRIPP project. Crucially, Yerevan pledged it would grant the United States effective control over Armenia’s strategic southern border with Iran, where a corridor is planned to connect Turkey to Azerbaijan.
President Trump, who oversaw the initialing of the Armenia-Azerbaijan deal in August 2025, at the time pledged to Pashinyan he would press Azerbaijan for the release of “23 Christians,” understood to mean the Armenian hostages in Baku.
