Linda Euljekjian, the wife of Lebanese-Armenian prisoner of war Vicken Euljekjian, who was convicted in a sham trial in Baku and sentenced to 20 years in jail, addressed a heart-breaking cry for help—an open Letter to leaders of the United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, OSCE, the presidents of United States, France, Germany, Britain’s prime minister and human rights organizations.

“I am writing this letter pleading for your help, because my family and I are extremely concerned that the Azerbaijani authorities could have murdered my husband. We are unable to verify reports circulating on social media that my husband ‘was tortured to death in jail’.”

“The International Committee of Red Cross, the only organization allowed to visit Armenian hostages in Azerbaijan, has neither confirmed nor denied these allegations,” the letter said.

“The Red Cross said yesterday they are ‘investigating these reports with the Azerbaijani authorities.’ So, I am asking for the help of world leaders and human rights organizations to find out whether my husband is alive or dead, and if he is alive, to demand his immediate release, as he is innocent and in imminent danger,” Linda Euljekjian added.

“We have had no news from my husband for two and half months. The last time I was allowed to speak with him was on 27 January 2023. I have not heard from him since and I am concerned that he is being tortured in the Azerbaijani jail,” she said.

On Saturday morning, unconfirmed messages were posted on social media, simply stating that Vicken Euljekjian was ”tortured to death in prison.” All efforts to check the horrific news turned vain. The weekend seemed painfully long, especially that the Red Cross staff was unable to provide Vicken’s family with an answer. And what if this was not fake news? What if the lives of Vicken Euljekjian and other Armenian hostages were hanging in the balance?

“This afternoon the news came that Lebanese Armenian Vicken Euljekjian, who was sentenced 20 years, was killed by Azerbaijani prison guards after being brutally bitten. Since then, no official statement has been provided by the Azerbaijani government,” member of Lebanon’s parliament Paula Yacoubian, who has been closely monitoring Vicken’s and other POW’s cases wrote in a Facebook post.

“It is obvious that Human rights in Azerbaijan are often criticized by countless international bodies such as Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch,” Yacoubian added.

She adamantly believes that the Red Cross should do more to bring news from Baku prison every month to Vicken’s distraught family.

“Vicken Euljekjian continues to remain in Baku prison extremely poor prison conditions and to this day continuously gets severely tortured. There is not a single statement from Azerbaijan providing information on Vicken’s condition. Everyone, and especially his wife and children deserve the right to find out about his health condition. It is within the rights of a political prisoner to get into contact with their family members. Vicken continues to stay imprisoned and to this day is suffering,” Yacoubian said.

Vicken Euljekjian was born in Lebanon to an Armenian family and holds dual citizenship of Armenia and Lebanon. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Lebanese beauty Iman Linda in the Catholic Church in 2000 and the couple has two children, 20-year-old Christine and 23-year-old Serj. After the economic crisis in Lebanon, Vicken applied and received his Armenian passport in April 2018, and moved to Armenia. He was planning to start his business, get a house and later to move our teenage children to Armenia to start a new life.

On November 10, 2020, Vicken and Maral were captured by two Azerbaijani soldiers near Shushi, he was in his civilian clothes, after searching his car, there were no weapons found in the car. His car and all his belongings, computers, watch, cash was confiscated by Azerbaijani soldiers. Later in November 2020, in the Baku court hearing, Azerbaijan falsely accused him of “being a terrorist and a mercenary, as well as having illegally entered Azerbaijan”.

The International Committee of Red Cross visited Maral and probably Vicken as well on 10 February 2021. One month later, Maral Najarian was released on 10 March 2020 and returned to Lebanon. Vicken, on the other hand, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by Baku Courts, following sham trials without receiving adequate legal representation by a human rights lawyer on 14 June 2021.

From the latest conversation, Vicken was spending his sentence in solitary confinement in one of the world’s most notorious prisons near Baku. Since his arrest, I have had very limited communication with my husband.

Linda told me during a telephone conversation this weekend she has raised her two beautiful children with Vicken as Armenians.
“Since we got married, I have learned some Armenian and my mother language is Arabic. But when my husband calls from the Baku prison, Azerbaijanis do not allow me to speak in Arabic, and this makes it difficult to communicate because my Armenian is very limited. Vicken is not allowed to speak on the phone more than couple of minutes under strict control. During his calls in November 2022 and January 2023, he was crying and begging me: ‘get me out of here quickly, I can’t take it anymore,’” Linda wrote in her open letter.

Last January the family received only a 50 second video recording from Vicken via the Red Cross, where he looked emaciated and old, and it was evident that he had lost a lot of weight. He had mentioned he was refused medication and treatment and was suffering from severe pain.

Vicken’s daughter and son, Christine and Serj, were too distraught to speak to me this weekend and were waiting for clarification from the Red Cross on Monday.

“I’m appealing to world leaders to help my family to find out whether my husband, Vicken Euljekian is still alive and allow a visit by human rights organisations and family lawyer. I’m also begging you to do everything in your power to secure the immediate release my husband, Vicken Euljekjian and ALL Armenian hostages held illegally in Azerarbaijani jails, before it is too late to save their lives,” Linda said in the conclusion of her open letter.

Silence means indifference. Inaction kills. We must act and make difference now, as tomorrow can be too late…

BY JASMINE SEYMOUR
Special to Asbarez

Jasmine Seymour is an activist who established the British Armenian Group, which focuses on campaigning for the release of Armenian prisoners of war currently being held captive in Azerbaijan. The organization has been circulating a petition on change.org and is urging the public to sign the plea to release Armenian POWs.