Guterres arrived in the Armenian capital to attend the COP17 Biodiversity Conference that began later in the day. He was asked about the plight of the 19 prisoners at a news conference held ahead of the global UN forum.
“I am a strong supporter of the peace agreement,” he replied. “I hope all the provisions set out in it will be implemented and that implementation will accelerate. I hope for more rapid progress so that we conclude the peace agreement and settle those outstanding issues.”
“We call on all parties to implement all provisions of the peace agreement as quickly as possible, which naturally also includes detained persons,” Guterres said, commenting on a lack of UN pressure on Baku.
When asked by News.am after the news conference whether the UN could take concrete steps to try to secure the prisoners’ release, he only said: “It’s a matter of great interest to us.”
Guterres appeared to refer to the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty that was finalized in August 2025 during a summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Neither the treaty nor a separate declaration signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian commits Baku to freeing the Armenian captives.
They include eight former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who were captured right after Azerbaijan’s September 2023 offensive that restored Baku’s full control over the region and forced its population to flee to Armenia. Five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and the three others received 20-year jail terms in February at the end of what Armenian lawyers and human rights activists see as sham trials.
The Armenian government is regularly accused by its domestic critics of doing little for the prisoners’ release. Pashinian and other Armenian officials deny the accusations.