Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan has called on Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, Anahit Manasyan, to take urgent and sustained action regarding Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, including by organizing an official visit to Baku and facilitating family visits, amid concerns over their conditions and lack of independent oversight.
“I am writing to you from detention, in connection with circumstances that, in my view, call for the active and sustained engagement of the institution you lead,” Vardanyan said in the statement conveyed through his family.
Vardanyan said he recently met with Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, during which he raised “a number of specific concerns, relating to everyday conditions, medical care, legal matters, humanitarian needs, and diplomatic issues,” regarding the detention of both himself and other Armenian prisoners.
“These are matters that directly affect the safety, health, and dignity of people held in custody,” he said.
According to Vardanyan, it was also mentioned during that meeting that the possibility of a visit to Baku by Armenia’s Human Rights Defender had already been discussed, and that “the Azerbaijani side had expressed readiness to facilitate such a visit.” He noted, however, that “this initiative has not yet been acted upon.”
Vardanyan stressed that citizens of the Republic of Armenia have been held in Azerbaijani prisons for an extended period “without visits from their families and without independent monitoring, including by the ICRC.”
“In these circumstances, the institution mandated to protect the rights of Armenian citizens has demonstrated a complete absence of initiative,” he said.
He also questioned why, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian representatives are physically present in Baku for economic negotiations while the issue of Armenian prisoners remains absent from the official agenda.
“Why, then, are questions of the life, health, and rights of prisoners not part of the official Yerevan agenda, and why has not a single member of any delegation ever visited the detainees?” Vardanyan asked.
In light of this, Vardanyan urged Manasyan to consider organizing a visit to Baku with her participation and, under appropriate conditions, with the participation of relatives of Armenian prisoners as well.
“My wife, Veronika Zonabend, has expressed her readiness to take part in such a trip, as have, in all likelihood, representatives of other families,” he said.
Vardanyan added that any such delegation “must have an institutional and consistent character,” and should receive “the political backing of the Prime Minister of Armenia, who bears responsibility before the citizens of his country.”
He further said that the issues he raised with the Azerbaijani Ombudsman require coordination between the ombudsmen of both countries, warning that “the absence of such coordination constitutes a de facto denial of the only available humanitarian channel.”
Vardanyan also called for a public response to three specific questions: whether an official visit to Baku by a delegation including relatives of Armenian prisoners is being considered, how Armenia’s Human Rights Defender plans to coordinate with the Azerbaijani Ombudsman on humanitarian matters concerning Armenian citizens, and what measures the office has already taken to protect the rights of Armenian prisoners since the time of their detention.
“I believe that in the current situation it is critically important to urgently engage all available humanitarian and legal mechanisms,” Vardanyan said.
He concluded by stating that “the failure of the Government of Armenia to act in the interests of its own citizens unlawfully held in Azerbaijan is incompatible with the obligations of the state towards its people.”
