Veronika Zonabend, the wife of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, has announced plans to organize an international women’s humanitarian delegation to travel to Baku in the coming weeks, aimed at restoring contact between Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijan and their families. Her husband has been imprisoned in Azerbaijan since 2023, wrongfully convicted, Zonabend said, in sham trials that also targeted other Armenian detainees.
In a statement released Monday, Zonabend said the initiative comes at Vardanyan’s request and is aimed at restoring humanitarian contact between Armenian hostages and their families. She said the effort extends beyond her husband’s case to include 18 other Armenians currently held in Azerbaijani custody, many cut off from family contact for years.
Zonabend argued that the closure of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation office in Baku, combined with the absence of alternative access mechanisms, has left families without regular independent communication channels. She noted that Armenia’s Human Rights Defender has stated the matter falls outside her mandate, while official delegations have not been able to reach the hostages or assess their condition.
She appealed directly to Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner, Sabina Aliyeva, to facilitate the delegation’s arrival, arrange a visit to the Armenians held at the Umbaki Penitentiary Complex, and enable the transfer of letters, photographs, and family packages.
Zonabend stressed the effort is “not a political act,” but an attempt to restore basic human connection and dignity for those in detention.
As part of the initiative, letters of support for the Armenian hostages are being collected from around the world over the next two weeks and will be delivered alongside family packages. Letters may be sent in any language to contact@freearmenianprisoners.com with the subject line “Letter of Support – Armenian Detainees,” and if addressed to a specific person, that name should be included in the subject line. Zonabend said the names of the women who will form the delegation will be announced in due course.
Her full statement appears below.
“My husband has been unlawfully detained in Azerbaijan since September 2023. For more than three years, he has been kept away from his family and from everyone who loves him. During this time, his granddaughters were born — granddaughters he has never held in his arms.
I write this as a loving wife, as a mother, as a grandmother, and as someone who can no longer wait in silence while various institutions explain why they cannot — or should not — act. But this is not only about Ruben.
Eighteen more Armenians remain in detention in Azerbaijan. Many of them have not seen their loved ones in six years. They have received no letters. They have not heard the voices of those close to them. They have not held in their hands a photograph of their children, their grandchildren — and some, of their great-grandchildren.
To their families, they are not an “agenda item,” a “political problem,” or a “complex diplomatic case.” They are husbands, fathers, grandfathers, sons, and brothers. Their only offence was wanting to live on their ancestral land, to speak their language, and to preserve their culture. Today it too often seems as though their fate matters deeply to no one beyond their own families. Throughout this time, an endless conversation has continued around their fate — about mechanisms, procedures, mandates, and political circumstances. While some are occupied with preserving their political positions, others spend years in detention waiting for a single photograph, a letter, or a few words from those they love.
Following the closure of the ICRC delegation office in Baku, the families of Armenian detainees have been left without regular, independent humanitarian access to their loved ones. The international mechanisms designed to protect people in such circumstances have, in practice, ceased to function. Armenia’s Human Rights Defender has stated that this matter falls outside her mandate. Official delegations from their own country, when visiting Azerbaijan, have not found a way to see these people — to check on their conditions of detention or their state of health.
In the face of this institutional vacuum of accountability, I can no longer simply wait. At Ruben’s request, I intend to organise an international women’s humanitarian delegation to travel to Baku in the coming weeks.
I call upon Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner, Ms. Sabina Aliyeva, and her office, to facilitate the arrival of this delegation in Baku, to arrange an official meeting, to organise a visit to the Armenian prisoners held at the Umbaki Penitentiary Complex, and to enable the formal transfer of packages, photographs, letters, and permitted personal belongings from their families, in accordance with Azerbaijani law.
For those who are imprisoned, this will serve as a reminder: they have not been forgotten.
I believe we remain human only when we refuse to let indifference become the norm — when we continue to cultivate compassion, love, and mercy within ourselves, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
I want to believe that even where politics has destroyed trust, there remains space for a human gesture. Leaders of nations and powerful states are remembered by history not only for their victories, but for the mercy they showed to those who found themselves in their power. It is precisely such acts that history values most — for they reveal strength united with dignity.
This initiative is not a political act. It is an attempt to restore at least a minimal connection between those in detention, their families, and all those who care about their fate. Such a connection helps a person preserve their dignity — and without dignity, it is impossible to speak of genuine and lasting peace between neighbouring peoples.
Over the next two weeks, we are collecting letters of support for the Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. We will do our best to deliver them alongside family packages as part of this humanitarian initiative.
Letters may be sent in any language to: contact@freearmenianprisoners.com
Subject line: Letter of Support – Armenian Detainees
If your letter is addressed to a specific person, please include their name in the subject line.
The names of the women who will form part of the delegation will be announced in due course.”
