Viken Euljekjian, an Armenian from Lebanon, who was captured by Azerbaijani forces on November 10 near Shushi and is being held illegally by Azerbaijan was transferred to a hospital, Asbarez reports.
Christine, Eulkekjian’s 18-year-old daughter, and Beatrice, his mother, reported. They have spoken from Beirut about their latest telephone conversation with Vicken, as he was transferred from prison to hospital.
Due to the difficult economic and political climate in Beirut, Vicken considered emigrating to Armenia and applied for the citizenship of the Republic of Armenia in 2017, while retaining his Lebanese citizenship by birth. Vicken moved permanently to Yerevan in November 2019 with the intention of starting a business.
Vicken was captured the day after the ceasefire agreement near Shushi. On 10 November 2020, with Maral Najarian, Vicken drove to Shushi in Nagorno Karabakh, to collect his belongings from his Shushi hotel. They were stopped by Azeri forces and transferred to Baku in a bus with many other Armenian captives, civilians and soldiers. Maral Najarian was released in March 2021, whereas Vicken remains in captivity, where he is facing criminal charges by Azerbaijan.
Representatives of the International Red Cross were permitted to visit Vicken in prison only in February 2021. ICRC has facilitated sporadic communication between him and his family in Beirut, exchange of letters and notes. The family had spoken with him on May 25.
Vicken had phoned his mother, his two children from a hospital in Azerbaijan, where he had been taken by Red Cross officials. Vicken told his family he was being treated for back pain. The conversation had been very brief and they were unable to ask many questions.
EU, European Parliament, Council of Europe, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, international human rights organizations, and many prominent figures called on unconditional and immediate release of all prisoners.
