Vardanyan’s wife appeals to Red Cross

PanARMENIAN.Net - Veronika Zonabend, the wife of businessman and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan — sentenced in Baku to 20 years in prison in what is described as a fabricated case — has addressed the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger. She requested clarification of the legal status of Armenian detainees.

She noted that the suffering of families has deepened due to unlawful detention and unfounded trials.

“Dear President, I am writing to you on behalf of my husband, Armenian citizen, philanthropist and former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan, who was unlawfully detained by Azerbaijani authorities on September 27, 2023, while crossing from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The role and mandate of the ICRC are truly unique and unprecedented. In times of brutality, war and injustice, the ICRC remains a rare symbol of dignity, compassion and humanity, fulfilling the noble mission of protecting vulnerable people. The ICRC is one of the few international organizations whose members have not lost their sense of mission and continue to approach their work with care and dedication. We sincerely appreciate the visits of Red Cross representatives to Ruben in the Azerbaijani detention facility. For us — and, I am certain, for the families of other detained Armenians — your visits mean far more than a mere formal procedure.

I am writing with full awareness of the ICRC’s humanitarian mandate and its long-established principles of confidentiality, impartiality and neutrality. At the same time, for families of unlawfully detained individuals, it is critically important to understand the legal status their relatives had at the time of ICRC visits in Azerbaijan.

The need for clarification is especially urgent in light of evidently flawed judicial proceedings in Azerbaijan, given trials lacking fundamental guarantees and charges devoid of factual and legal basis. The suffering inflicted on their families by unlawful detention and baseless trials is further aggravated when Azerbaijani authorities publicly and repeatedly label these individuals as ‘terrorists,’ distorting their status and spreading misleading information.

In view of the above, I respectfully request clarification of the specific legal status under which ICRC delegates visited Ruben and other Armenian detainees. In particular, we seek to understand whether the ICRC considered them as persons deprived of liberty in connection with an armed conflict — and accordingly whether they were regarded as prisoners of war, security detainees, internees, or held under another status within the framework of international humanitarian law.

Clarifying this issue is of utmost importance. It would provide families with much-needed reassurance and understanding of how detainees are viewed under international humanitarian law and within the framework of ICRC humanitarian visits.

Allow me to conclude by expressing my sincere gratitude for the compassion and dignity embodied in the work of the Red Cross. These are irreplaceable values, whose absence is felt across the world.

Finally, I wish to address you not only formally but also as a deeply personal appeal — to an organization whose mission has always been to place human life, dignity and justice above formalities and political considerations. For families like ours, living with the pain of prolonged and unlawful detention of a loved one, faith in the humanitarian mission of the ICRC remains a source of hope. I truly believe that this spirit will guide your attention to what is happening to Ruben Vardanyan and other detained Armenians,” the letter states.

Families of Armenian detainees held in Baku have been unable to see them for more than two years and remain concerned about their health. The last independent access was provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross, but since September 3, 2025, the ICRC has ceased its activities in Azerbaijan at the request of the authorities. Under these conditions, the issue of detainees’ legal status has become particularly important.