SAVE MADAT BABAYAN, SICK ARMENIAN HOSTAGE DENIED MEDICAL CARE: LIBERTAS CALLS FOR HIS RELEASE (LIBERTAS)
- Apr 28
- 2 min read
Arrested during the full occupation of Artsakh in September 2023, Madat Babayan, a 74 year old farmer from the village of Getavan (Martakert region), was sentenced on 5 February 2026 by a Baku military court to 19 years in prison for “crimes against humanity”, based on “confessions” extracted under duress and ill treatment.
His son Armen testifies* : “For a year he has been complaining of a lump in his throat; it prevents him from breathing normally and eating”.
“Since the expulsion of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from Azerbaijan in June 2025, no independent monitoring of the detention conditions and health of the 20 Armenian hostages has been possible,” denounces LIBERTAS.
Their secret transfer, without notifying the families, from the National Security Service detention centre to a penitentiary facility under the Ministry of Justice – probably Umbaki prison – is problematic: families like Madat Babayan’s have no independent assistance to help their loved ones or to ensure they receive appropriate medical care.
LIBERTAS once again condemns Azerbaijan’s expulsion of the ICRC and urgently demands:
• Immediate and unconditional access for the ICRC, or failing that,
a joint delegation of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament to the places of detention of Armenian state hostages,
• Appropriate medical care for all prisoners weakened by isolation and the lack of basic hygiene conditions,
• The immediate and unconditional release of Madat Babayan and the other 19 Armenian hostages.
LIBERTAS supports Armen Babayan’s request to visit his suffering father. Let us not allow Madat Babayan to die in Baku’s prisons amid the general indifference surrounding the fate of Armenian hostages.
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LIBERTAS works for the release of Armenian state hostages and the rehabilitation of released prisoners.
