'Freeing Armenian prisoners is a priority for Trump administration' – Jared Genser
Trump and the release of Armenian prisoners
“Our request up front to the administration has been quite clear: [A] deal for the release of Armenian Christian POWs must be a precondition to [a peace deal] moving forward, which has been the position of the administration,” said international lawyer and human rights advocate Jared Genser in an interview with Catholic News Agency.
Genser also stated that the release of detainees is “a top priority” for the new US administration.
According to him, “we were told” that the release of prisoners should be a prerequisite for President Trump to ultimately endorse the peace deal. Genser did not specify who had conveyed this message to the US administration.
He represents former NKR state minister Ruben Vardanyan, who is on trial in Azerbaijan with other leaders of the unrecognised republic. Genser has long claimed that Vardanyan’s rights are being violated. He stresses that he represents a “high-profile political prisoner” but says his concerns apply to all detainees.
Catholic News Agency requested clarification on the issue of Armenian prisoners from the US State Department. In the response the agency received, the State Department stated only that the rights of all detainees must be respected:
“All those detained should have their human rights respected and, if criminally charged, have all fair trial guarantees afforded to them.”
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Eight former leaders of the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) are on trial in Azerbaijan: former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan; speaker of parliament Davit Ishkhanyan; state minister Ruben Vardanyan; Defence Army commander Levon Mnatsakanyan; deputy commander Davit Manukyan; and foreign minister Davit Babayan.
They are charged with genocide, terrorism, and organising the forced displacement of civilians. All face life imprisonment. However, the defendants have not been granted proper access to the case materials.
The case of former state minister Ruben Vardanyan is being handled separately. He has twice gone on hunger strike to protest what he calls a “judicial farce.”
The former Karabakh leaders were arrested in September 2023 following Azerbaijan’s so-called “counter-terrorist operation” in Nagorno-Karabakh. The operation came after a 10-month blockade of over 100,000 Armenians. Following the end of hostilities and the reopening of the Lachin corridor, the entire Armenian population fled their homeland.
“Trump promised to protect imprisoned Armenian Christians”
International lawyer Jared Genser reminded the public of Donald Trump’s campaign pledges, particularly his promise to defend Armenian Christians. He called the September 2023 events “ethnic cleansing” and urged the Trump administration to honour its campaign pledges.
Regarding his client Ruben Vardanyan, Genser stressed that the Armenian Apostolic Church follower has been denied access to the Bible.
“This only reinforces the fact that the persecution of him and other Nagorno-Karabakh leaders is not just because they were representatives of the so-called ‘separatist republic’, but also because they are Christians.”
The lawyer also argued that it is no coincidence that “following the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is destroying Armenian churches and cultural heritage.”
Prisoners could become casualties of a peace deal
According to Jared Genser, peace is impossible unless all issues within the Armenian-Azerbaijani framework are “disclosed, discussed, and fully resolved”:
“If a peace agreement is signed while the Nagorno-Karabakh issue or the fate of Armenian Christian prisoners remains unresolved, then unfortunately, they could be sacrificed.”
The lawyer also noted that these matters are absent from both the text of the peace agreement and the bilateral agenda between Yerevan and Baku.
“New US administration could shock dictator Aliyev”
The human rights advocate urged the Trump administration to “shock” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, calling him a dictator. However, he did not specify which measures should be used to apply pressure:
“Dictators only release political prisoners when they are forced to. They never do it out of generosity or humanitarian concern. It only happens when a dictator believes that the cost of holding one or more political prisoners far outweighs the benefits of keeping them behind bars.”
