From August 31 to September 4, portraits of 19 Armenian political prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan are being displayed on Paris City Hall.
Organized by Paris City Hall and the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), the exhibition draws attention to their continued illegal detention and to the broader consequences of Azerbaijan’s actions against Artsakh, including the occupation of Artsakh, the forced displacement of its Armenian population and the imprisonment of members of Artsakh’s political and military leadership.
Paris has repeatedly expressed support for the Armenians of Artsakh. During Azerbaijan’s 2023 blockade, the city organized humanitarian assistance, while Mayor Anne Hidalgo led a delegation to Armenia and traveled to the Hakari Bridge in support of the blockaded population. Later that year, the Paris City Council unanimously granted honorary citizenship of Paris to the people of Artsakh.
French institutions have also continued to demand the release of Armenian prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan, including through a resolution adopted by the French National Assembly in February 2026.
“The 19 portraits displayed in Paris today are not merely the faces of prisoners. They are living testimonies to the history of Artsakh, its political life and the rights of its people,” CCAF co-chair Murad Papazian said.
The exhibition comes as Azerbaijan continues to illegally hold Armenian prisoners in Baku, while the forcibly displaced Armenians of Artsakh remain denied the right to return to their homeland.
Nineteen faces. Nineteen lives. One demand: freedom.
