Two years ago, former Minister of State of Nagorno Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan was arrested by Azerbaijani security forces. In an interview with Eadaily, Siranush Sahakyan, a lawyer for the International Center for International Relations and ECHR, comments on the situation.
Representatives of the Vardanyan family have repeatedly appealed to the international community, calling for attention to Ruben Vardanyan's fate. What was the common reaction? Who helps and who refuses to do it? And we, family members, and various human rights organizations have repeatedly appealed to the international community. Both the leadership of different countries, international organizations and human rights activists. We have received various answers, resolutions have been adopted, such as the March Resolution of the European Parliament. However, as you can see, Azerbaijan continues to keep Armenian prisoners illegally. Many applications and requirements of international human rights activists have been rejected or ignored to visit Azerbaijan and the "open trial".
For example, I would advise you as a media outlet, apply an application to cover these "open trials" and to publish the answer received from the relevant Azerbaijani authorities. But now I want to draw your attention to a much more important issue, which is currently worried about both us, human rights and prisoners. The only international humanitarian organization, which has linked the Armenian captives, has stopped its activities in that country.
Do you know what that means? This means that we will not have any reliable information about the real condition of the prisoners who face the real danger of violence and torture today. For your notification, I would like to note that all the Armenian captors who returned to their homeland were tortured. Ruben Vardanyan also tortured during his first hunger strike last year and we have already applied to the relevant UN structures in this regard. Do you think that the Azerbaijani authorities use Ruben Vardanyan as a tool to put pressure on Armenia? How do you assess the steps of the Armenian authorities to release him? Of course, not only Ruben Vardanyan, but also to all Armenian prisoners, as well as staging this judicial farce pursues some political goals. In Ruben Vardanyan, there are no evidence of his personal involvement or direct contact with 42 charges against him.
Moreover, those accusations could be nominated by any Armenian. Did you follow the coverage of court hearings? Should you follow? It's just absurd. Hundreds of people testified, describing the injuries, claiming that they had never seen or recognized Ruben Vardanyan and learned about his "guilt" only from the Azerbaijani media. As for the funds taken by the Armenian authorities, they would be satisfied if the captives had already returned.
In addition, we are now concerned that there is no point on the return of prisoners in Washington, and the agreement on the refusal to refuse international requirements will be significant than the elimination of prisoners' justice and protection. In other words, Ilham Aliyev's regime will not have any political or legal obligation to release them. It is obvious that the Armenian society cannot trust and believe in these peaceful processes without the release of prisoners.
Therefore, it is very important to solve this issue before the end of these processes.
