内容摘要：Mr Fogel, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had been working as a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow. He had previously worked as a diplomat at the US embassy there.

Mr Fogel, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had been working as a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow. He had previously worked as a diplomat at the US embassy there.

Azerbaijan insists it is complying with international legal standards, and that it has a responsibility to hold to account those suspected of having committed war crimes.But last month, the government in Baku ordered the closure of the local offices of the International Red Cross, the only international organisation with access to Armenian prisoners.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the "unlawful detention and sham trials of Armenian hostages", calling for their immediate release.Vardanyan returns to court on Tuesday, but supporters fear his case will be overshadowed by a historic peace deal taking shape between Armenia and Azerbaijan.The details are yet to be made public but officials say the draft text does not include the issue of the prisoners on trial or the right of ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to return to their homes.

The failure to mention the prisoners has prompted criticism of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government at home and abroad.But Arsen Torosyan, the MP from the Armenian governing party Civil Contract believes this issue needs to be solved separately.

"It is a peace treaty between the conflicting countries with a long history of hatred between each other. I personally think that only completing or signing of this peace treaty can make ground to solve the issue of political prisoners. I don't see any other way to do it."

Vardanyan has warned this is a mistake.When Trump was still in office the first time around, he was critical of the organisation for being too "China-centric" in its tackling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trump accused the WHO of being biased towards China in how it issued guidance during the outbreak.Under the Biden administration the US continued to be the largest funder of the WHO and in 2023 it contributed almost one-fifth of the agency's budget.

The organisation's annual budget is $6.8bn (£5.5bn).It is possible that funding could disappear almost immediately, and it is not clear that other nations will step up to fill the gap.