Activist Greta Thunberg urges release of Armenians in Azerbaijan

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg Friday urged the release of political prisoners held by COP29 summit host Azerbaijan, including detainees from its neighbour and rival Armenia whom she described as "hostages".

The 21-year-old spoke during a demonstration in front of the UN delegation headquarters in the Armenian capital Yerevan while the global climate summit was underway in neighbouring Azerbaijan, a key oil and gas producer.

"We urge international media and those in power who are in Baku to go and visit Armenian hostages and demand an immediate release to all political prisoners, prisoners of war and hostages," she said, in filmed comments at the rally.

"We will not fall for the lies of Azerbaijan when they are trying to greenwash their ethnic cleansing and crimes," she said, alongside a group of around 20 fellow protesters.

Historic rivals in the Caucasus, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought wars in the early 1990s and 2020 and have accused each other of ethnic cleansing.

In September 2023, Azerbaijani forces seized Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory it had long claimed, displacing most of its Armenian inhabitants.

International human rights groups have accused the government of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev of crushing dissent by civil groups ahead of COP29.

The European Parliament has accused it of repressing the opposition and violating human rights.

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry has rejected claims of harassment of civil society activists as "biased and unacceptable".