Armenian citizen hospitalized from Baku prison after his hunger strike
Lebanese Armenian Vigen Euldjekyan, arrested by Azerbaijani militaries in Nagorno-Karabakh and sentenced in Baku to twenty years of imprisonment, held a hunger strike in prison and was hospitalized.
After the 2020 war, 195 people are considered missing, including 175 military personnel and 20 civilians. Siranush Saakyan, who represents the interests of Armenian prisoners in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), claims that 80 people have been forcibly disappeared. However, according to the Siranush Saakyan’s report, Baku refuses to provide any information about the missing people.
Vigen Euldjekyan held a hunger strike in prison in protest against cruel treatment, his condition worsened, and as a result the prisoner was taken to the hospital, Mane Tandilyan, the leader of the “Country of Life” Party, reported on her page in Facebook*.
According to the politician’s information, Vigen Euldjekyan had been on a hunger strike for several weeks: by May 9, when Mane Tandilyan learned of the prisoner’s protest, he had already been on hunger strike for “about two weeks.”
Linda Euldjekyan, the convict’s wife, confirmed that her husband was hospitalized. “I have reliable information that my husband is in the hospital. I contacted a representative of the Red Cross in Lebanon, who, in turn, contacted his colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Georgia. I was told that Vigen was suffering from severe pain,” reported Vigen Euldjekyan’s wife Linda Euldjekyan as quoted today by the “Re:public of Artsakh” Telegram channel.
Luciana Minasyan, the director of the Buenos Aires branch of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR), who sent a letter about the Vigen Euldjekyan’s hunger strike to the ICRC on May 9, cited the prison administration’s refusal to let the prisoner have phone conversations with his wife as the reason for his protest. “The Vigen Euldjekyan’s demand is extremely simple: a phone call with his wife Linda. Just one call, a basic human connection, that’s all he wants,” the “Pastinfo.am” quoted the text of the Luciana Minasyan’s message.
In June 2021, Armenian citizen Vigen Euldjekyan was sentenced by a court in Baku to 20 years of imprisonment on the charge of activities as a mercenary and involvement in terrorism. Vigen Euldjekyan is being kept in Gobustan Prison, well-known for its “inhumane conditions and high suicide rate among prisoners,” the “Zartonk Media” publication notes.
This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 23, 2025 at 08:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.