Zonabend plans humanitarian delegation to Baku

PanARMENIAN.Net - Veronika Zonabend, the wife of businessman and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, who is being held in a Baku prison on what she describes as fabricated charges, has announced a new humanitarian initiative. Under the plan, she intends to organize an international women’s humanitarian delegation to visit Baku. The announcement was made in a public statement.

She noted that Armenia’s Human Rights Defender had stated that the issue does not fall within the institution’s mandate. Zonabend said she has appealed to Azerbaijan’s ombudsman, requesting support for the visit.

“Since September 2023, my husband has been unlawfully detained in Azerbaijan. For more than three years, he has been deprived of the opportunity to see his family and loved ones. During this time, his grandchildren were born, and he has never held them in his arms. I am writing this as Ruben Vardanyan’s wife, as a mother, as a grandmother, and as a person who can no longer wait in silence while listening to explanations from various institutions about why they cannot act or why they should not act.

This is not only about Ruben.

Another 18 Armenians remain in Azerbaijani detention. Some of them have not seen their relatives for six years, have not received letters, have not heard their voices, and have not held photographs of their children or grandchildren in their hands.

For their families, they are not a ‘policy issue,’ a ‘political issue,’ or a ‘complex diplomatic problem.’ They are husbands, fathers, grandfathers, sons, and brothers. Their only ‘crime’ is that they wanted to live on the land of their ancestors, speak their native language, and preserve their culture. Today, it too often seems that their fate concerns very few people other than their families.

Throughout this entire period, endless discussions have continued about their fate — discussions about mechanisms, procedures, mandates, and political circumstances. While some are occupied with preserving their political positions, others remain in captivity, waiting for years for even a single photograph, a single letter, or a few words from their loved ones.

Since the closure of the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Azerbaijan, the families of Armenian prisoners have effectively been deprived of regular, independent humanitarian contact with their relatives. International mechanisms that should protect people in such situations are, in practice, not functioning.

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender has stated that this issue does not fall within the institution’s authority.

Meanwhile, during visits to Azerbaijan, official delegations from their own country have not found an opportunity to visit these people, meet them, familiarize themselves with their detention conditions, or assess their health.

At Ruben’s request, I intend to organize an international women’s humanitarian delegation that will travel to Baku in the near future.

I appeal to Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman, Ms. Sabina Aliyeva, and her office, requesting support for the delegation’s visit to Baku, an official meeting, visits to Armenian prisoners held in the Umbaki penitentiary complex, and the official transfer of parcels, photographs, letters, and legally permitted personal items from their families.

For the detainees, this is a reminder that they have not been forgotten.

I believe we can remain human only if we do not allow indifference to become the norm and an everyday occurrence, if even under the most difficult circumstances we continue to preserve compassion, love, and mercy.

I want to believe that even where politics destroys trust, there is still room for a humane gesture. Leaders and powerful states are remembered in history not only for their victories, but also for the mercy they show to people who come under their authority. It is precisely such acts that remain in history.

This initiative is not a political action. It is an attempt to restore at least a minimal connection between prisoners and their families, as well as those concerned about their fate. That connection helps a person preserve dignity, without which it is impossible to speak of genuine and lasting peace between neighboring peoples.

In this regard, over the next two weeks we will be collecting letters of support and photographs for Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, which we will try to deliver to them together with family parcels.

The full text of the statement and details of the humanitarian initiative, including instructions on how to send letters, are available via the relevant link,” the statement said.

Zonabend added that the names of the women who will be included in the delegation will be announced later.

A court in Baku sentenced Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison.

Former Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan was sentenced to life imprisonment. Former Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan and former First Deputy Commander Davit Manukyan also received life sentences, as did former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Davit Babayan and former National Assembly Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan. Former Artsakh presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Madat Babayan and Melikset Pashayan were sentenced to 19 years in prison, Garik Martirosyan to 18 years, Davit Alaverdyan and Levon Balayan to 16 years, and Erik Ghazaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, and Vasil Beglaryan to 15 years of imprisonment.