Vardanyan stresses the importance of raising issues

PanARMENIAN.Net - Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, representing Armenian captives at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), stated that Ruben Vardanyan, according to her information, has the same opportunities as other captives and political prisoners. However, he uses phone calls with his family to convey his message to the public. She mentioned this in an interview with News.am .

According to her, in such situations, everyone acts differently; Vardanyan chose this approach, and from the beginning, it was clear that he did not intend to remain silent.

"During this period, he has used every, even small opportunity to raise the issue, to draw the attention of the international community and everyone to the illegal judicial process and the overall situation. As I understand, it is secondary to him how they will treat him there afterward. He emphasizes raising the issue by all possible means and even resorts to life-threatening measures like a hunger strike," Sahakyan said.

The lawyer recalled that on January 16, before the trial began, Vardanyan's message was of great importance, as he stated that the records and documents were falsified, and he had not testified. This evidenced the illegal nature of the judicial process not only against him but also other Armenian captives. Amnesty International quickly responded to this statement, enabling international human rights defenders to effectively use that information to raise the issue of releasing the captives.

Sahakyan noted that Vardanyan's statements from isolation and photos depicting his health condition during the hunger strike significantly influenced the adoption of the European Parliament's resolution.

Regarding how Vardanyan learns about events in Armenia, the lawyer mentioned that the Azerbaijani side provides them with the Russian-language newspaper "Bakinsky Rabochy." Vardanyan attempted to file a defamation lawsuit against this newspaper, but the court refused to accept the claim. Additionally, he can verify the accuracy of information he is interested in through phone calls with his private lawyer and family.

"Overall, in this situation, I do not consider it serious to discuss various technical issues and invent conspiracy theories. It is clear that these are not reality but rather perceptions formed due to various hypotheses, assumptions, and discussions internally, which, unfortunately, distract the public from the real and important issue, instead of focusing and taking more coordinated steps. And this is especially the case when we have serious problems and a situation where a person is trying to make the world aware of ongoing illegalities at the cost of his life," she said.