Armenia's Human Rights Defender refused Vardanyan's request to visit Azerbaijan.

Convicted Karabakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan demanded the Armenian government's involvement in the fate of Armenian prisoners and asked the ombudsman to visit Azerbaijan with a delegation of the prisoners' relatives. Ombudsman Anahit Manasyan declined the visit, citing a lack of authority to protect Armenians outside the country.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on February 17, the Baku Military Court sentenced Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison. The defendant, who headed the Karabakh government for several months during the blockade of the Lachin corridor, was found guilty of war crimes. Vardanyan declined to appeal, explaining that he does not recognize the verdict as an act of justice.

Manasyan explained her refusal to visit Armenian prisoners by citing lack of authority.

Armenia's Human Rights Defender, Anahit Manasyan, responded to Ruben Vardanyan's request by stating that she cannot conduct monitoring visits to prisons outside the country, Novosti-Armenia reported today.

"The status of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia presupposes that he cannot and does not conduct negotiations on behalf of the state, nor does he implement the state's foreign policy. "He acts exclusively within the framework of RA legislation and international standards, within the mandate granted to the human rights ombudsman," the publication quoted Manasyan as saying to Vardanyan.

Accordingly, according to Manasyan, the ombudsman's powers extend exclusively to recording alleged human rights violations by state bodies and local governments in Armenia.

"The RA Human Rights Ombudsman has the authority to conduct monitoring visits to places of detention and may freely use all of his tools during such visits exclusively within the territory of the RA," Manasyan explained in the publication.

Vardanyan demands that the Armenian authorities attend to the fate of Armenian prisoners

Ruben Vardanyan's appeal to the Armenian ombudsman was conveyed during a telephone conversation with his family and published on April 21 on a Telegram channel run by Vardanyan's representatives.

In his appeal, Vardanyan called on Anahit Manasyan to come to Baku and visit the Armenian prisoners along with their relatives. He explained that he had met with Azerbaijan's Ombudsman, Sabina Aliyeva.

"During the conversation, the Azerbaijani Ombudsman also mentioned that the possibility of your visit to Baku had already been discussed, and the Azerbaijani side expressed its readiness to facilitate its organization. However, this initiative has not yet been realized," Ruben Vardanyan explained in his address.

Armenian citizens have been held in Azerbaijani prisons for long periods without meetings with their families or independent monitoring, and the institution responsible for protecting the rights of Armenian citizens "demonstrates a lack of initiative," the former Karabakh state minister emphasized.

The lack of such coordination is a de facto denial of the only humanitarian channel.

"The issues I raised with the Azerbaijani Ombudsman require coordination between the Ombudsmen of both countries. The lack of such coordination is a de facto denial of the only humanitarian channel. channel," he said.

He asked Manasyan to publicly answer questions about whether the possibility of organizing an official visit to Baku by a delegation with relatives of Armenian prisoners is being considered, how the Armenian Ombudsman's Office plans to coordinate with the Azerbaijani Ombudsman on humanitarian issues concerning Armenian citizens, and what measures the Armenian Ombudsman's Office has already taken to protect the rights of Armenian prisoners since their detention.

"The Armenian government's disregard for the interests of its citizens illegally held in Azerbaijan is incompatible with the state's obligations to its citizens," the publication says.

As a reminder, Ruben Vardanyan only announced his decision to renounce his Russian citizenship and move to Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2022 to support local residents who were "in a grave psychological state." In October 2022, Vardanyan agreed to head the government, and became state minister on November 4, 2022. However, on February 23, 2023, Vardanyan was dismissed after serving as state minister for less than four months. During this period, Vardanyan was forced to seek solutions to the problems faced by the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh due to the blockade of the Lachin corridor.

Later, in a Baku court, Vardanyan's defense pointed out that the prosecution accused him of events that occurred, among other things, many years before his arrival in Karabakh. Azerbaijani citizens recognized as victims also testified about this in court. In particular, they spoke about shelling in the Kelbajar region, which came under Baku's control back in 2020, and in the Zangilan region, which was also occupied by Azerbaijan in 2020.

The same court, starting in January 2025, has been hearing the case of 15 former leaders and residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, detained in September-October 2023. They were charged under 20 articles of the Criminal Code, including war crimes. All defendants denied guilt, but on February 5, the court sentenced them to life and long prison terms.

The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared reports "Highlights of the Sentences of Former Nagorno-Karabakh Leaders" and "Vardanyan and 15 Karabakh Leaders: Highlights of the Baku Courts".