Armenian churches to pray for Armenian captive in Azerbaijan

ArmInfo. At the initiative of His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, an ecumenical  (global) prayer for peace and justice in Armenia and the release of  hostages illegally held in Baku will be held in Armenian churches  around the world on November 10.

Prayers will be held in all dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church  around the world. Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I and  the World Council of Churches also joined the initiative.

Karekin II called on all Armenians to come to churches and join the  prayer. He noted that this event can help attract the attention of  the world community to the issue of captives ahead of the COP29  climate summit in Azerbaijan on November 11. "We sincerely hope that  these spiritual efforts will raise global awareness of this ongoing  humanitarian crisis and will contribute to a peaceful solution based  on truth and justice," said Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. 

In turn, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I stated: "We  call on all religious communities, international organizations and  people of good will to join our prayers and intensify efforts to  demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian  captives from Baku. We remind the international community  participating in the COP29 summit that justice and peace are closely  interrelated and cannot be separated from each other. We cannot  demand climate justice without condemning human rights violations."  The World Council of Churches (WCC), whose members are more than  three hundred Christian churches from more than one hundred  countries, also expressed its readiness to join the Day of Prayer  dedicated to Armenia for the establishment of peace, support for  refugees and the release of captives. WCC General Secretary Gerry  Pillay called on all churches to join the prayer on November 10 and  to appeal to the international community to continue to provide  support. "We remain in prayerful solidarity with the Armenian  Apostolic Church and Armenia's ecumenical partners," said Gerry  Pillay, reiterating the call for a just and lasting peace in  accordance with international humanitarian and human rights laws. The  World Council of Churches is the largest international ecumenical  organization, uniting some 400 million Christians worldwide. 

This is not the first initiative aimed at drawing attention to the  problem of political prisoners in Baku prisons. The international  civil movement #FreeArmenianHostages, which was launched several  months earlier, aims to highlight and draw the attention of the  international community to the prisoners of the Aliyev regime. The  29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29), which will begin on  November 11 this year in Baku, provides an opportunity for the world  to see the situation with human rights violations in Azerbaijan. The  movement is based on the assertion that the international community  should not allow the climate agenda to justify war crimes and crimes  against humanity and calls for support of the initiative with posts  on social networks with the hashtags: #FreeArmenianHostages  #HumanRights #JusticeForArmenia #COP29 #StopGreenwashGenocide  #FreePoliticalPrisoners.