A few days ago, Ruben Vardanyan, the former State Minister of Artsakh who was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in Baku, during a phone call with his family attempted to make an appeal to Azerbaijan’s Ombudsperson Sabina Aliyeva; however, the call was interrupted. In the conversation with his family, Vardanyan stated that during the previous 10 days, attempts to contact the Ombudsperson through his lawyer, written applications, and phone calls had yielded no results.
“The statement issued yesterday by Ruben Vardanyan’s family and Vardanyan’s audio message, during which he is interrupted, are deeply concerning, and we will draw the attention of all our international partners to this statement,” said Siranush Sahakyan, director of the “International and Comparative Law Center,” in an interview with news.am.
According to the human rights defender, Vardanyan’s message once again clearly demonstrates that Armenian detainees are in complete isolation, deprived of any accessible and effective mechanisms for the protection of their rights, and that anything could happen to them. From the message, we learn that Ruben Vardanyan tried by all possible means to contact Azerbaijan’s Ombudsperson, but after all attempts failed, he decided to use the short phone call with his family for that purpose.
The philanthropist’s family also stated that even about a month after the conclusion of the trials, neither Ruben Vardanyan nor the other Armenian prisoners have yet received the texts of their official verdicts in any language - Russian, Armenian, or Azerbaijani. They do not know under which articles they were convicted, or when or where they will be transferred.
According to Sahakyan, the failure to provide the verdicts artificially obstructs the exercise of the right to appeal them. “We will present this as a violation of rights, the purpose of which is to hinder the exercise of the right to appeal, including the right to apply to international instances, which in turn leads to a new gross violation of human rights. Appeals cannot be filed without the main judicial act, and its non-provision limits the right to an effective remedy,” said Sahakyan.
Following the statement, some Azerbaijani media outlets reported that Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Defender Sabina Aliyeva had visited Ruben Vardanyan. No photographs of the visit have been published. It is noted that the Ombudsman visited Vardanyan because his call had been registered in the call center, rather than due to Vardanyan’s public statement. Sahakyan even questions whether such a visit actually took place or not, “especially since no photographs have been published. Azerbaijani sources can write whatever they want. It should also be taken into account that Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman does not have a high level of independence - ‘A’ status - but rather ‘B’ status, and her reports are not perceived as credible by international legal organizations. In addition to having personal and familial ties with the political elite, the Ombudsman has institutional and functional dependence on the executive branch. This institution is simply given a ‘substitute’ role to justify the decision to expel the International Committee of the Red Cross from the country,” said Sahakyan.
Vardanyan also expressed concern that the only means of communication with his family and the outside world, the short phone calls, could be discontinued. The journalist asked whether it is possible that this too could be banned, out of fear that Ruben Vardanyan will, even under threat, still convey what he considers important to convey. Sahakyan once again reminded that the removal of the International Committee of the Red Cross has left Armenian detainees completely unprotected. “The situation is such that anything can be done to them, and we have no opportunity to learn about it,” said the human rights defender, adding that certain steps will be taken in this direction in the near future, about which additional information will be provided.