PanARMENIAN.Net - To help secure the release of Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan, the Armenian Cause Central Office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau has launched a six-language platform enabling users to appeal to senior OSCE officials. The initiative calls on the OSCE to activate its mandated mechanisms to monitor the legality of trials, detention conditions, and the health status of the Armenian prisoners, and to adopt a clear political stance on the issue.
The petition stresses the need for international pressure on Azerbaijan's authorities to halt human rights violations and to release all unlawfully detained prisoners.
"Take decisive steps to activate the Moscow Mechanism, as was done during the Russia-Ukraine conflict," the petition urges.
It also highlights Azerbaijan's violations of international and humanitarian law, suppression of opposition and independent media, and calls on OSCE member states not to remain silent in the face of such breaches.
Several UN bodies, parliamentary structures from various countries, and the European Parliament have issued dozens of resolutions calling for immediate action to secure the release of Armenian captives.
The petition further emphasizes the necessity of forming an expert commission to document and report alarming practices that amount to serious breaches of the OSCE's humanitarian commitments by Azerbaijan. It calls for special attention to politically motivated arrests, detentions of opposition figures, and trials of Artsakh citizens, describing Azerbaijan's conduct as racial discrimination.
According to the petition, the OSCE must thoroughly analyze the functioning of Azerbaijan's judicial system in light of its obligations as a member state.
The authors have formally appealed to relevant OSCE bodies, urging decisive implementation of the Moscow Mechanism under Clause 12 of the 1991 Moscow Document.
The petition notes that this instrument has previously been employed in the context of both the Russia-Ukraine war and the situation in Belarus.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz stated that he told Hikmet Hajiyev, advisor to the President of Azerbaijan, that the captives must be released and a peace agreement with Armenia must be finalized. Jared Genser, attorney for Ruben Vardanyan, urged Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to closely review statements by President Donald Trump and Mike Waltz.
Source: PanArmenian.Net
