By Siranush Adamyan
Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan said her office has no mandate to organize visits to Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, responding to a public appeal by former Nagorno-Karabakh official Ruben Vardanyan.
The statement released on Wednesday came after Vardanyan, writing from detention in Baku through a message relayed to relatives, urged Manasyan to travel to Azerbaijan and help secure family visits and monitoring for Armenian detainees.
Manasyan’s office said issues involving rights protection inside a country fall under the authority of that country’s own ombudsperson and cannot depend on communication with a foreign human rights institution.
Her office also disputed Vardanyan’s claim that Azerbaijan had expressed readiness to facilitate such a visit.
“We deem it necessary to underscore that the Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia has not received any official proposal concerning cooperation on the matter under discussion, nor has it received any confirmation that the Azerbaijani side has expressed readiness to facilitate such cooperation,” the statement said.
The office said it remained open to cooperation with counterpart institutions if conducted in line with principles of independence, impartiality and neutrality.
It added that an internationally recognized independent monitoring mechanism was needed to protect the rights of people deprived of liberty, calling the issue a fundamental priority.
Manasyan also repeated calls for the immediate release of all Armenians held in Azerbaijan.
“The Human Rights Defender, Ms. Anahit Manasyan, reiterates her position… that all Armenians deprived of liberty in Azerbaijan must be released without delay,” the statement said.
Vardanyan criticism
In his letter released on Tuesday, Vardanyan said he had recently met Azerbaijani Ombudsperson Sabina Aliyeva and raised concerns over detention conditions, medical care, legal matters and humanitarian issues affecting Armenian prisoners.
He said possible arrangements for Manasyan to visit Baku had been discussed but not implemented.
“Citizens of the Republic of Armenia have been held in Azerbaijani prisons for an extended period of time — without visits from their families and without independent monitoring,” Vardanyan said.
He also criticized Armenian authorities, saying institutions responsible for protecting citizens had shown a lack of initiative.
Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire, cofounder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, and backer of numerous other philanthropic ventures, briefly served as State Minister of the now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic after the 2020 war. He was detained by Azerbaijan in October 2023. This February, he was sentenced to 20 years in an Azerbaijani prison on charges including financing terrorism, forming illegal armed groups, and illegally crossing the state border. He rejects the accusations as politically motivated.
The same month, Azerbaijan sentenced seven other former Karabakh leaders who remain in custody. Only two former presidents, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, avoided life sentences, each receiving a 20-year term.
In January 2026, Azerbaijan released four Armenian civilian detainees held in Baku.
The number of Armenian prisoners currently held in Baku officially stands at 19.