In a statement circulated through his family on Tuesday, he also called on the Armenian human rights ombudswoman, Anahi Manasian, to visit the prisoners together with their relatives.
“The failure of the Government of Armenia to act in the interests of its own citizens unlawfully held in Azerbaijan is incompatible with the obligations of the state towards its people,” charged Vardanyan.
“Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, economic negotiations are currently taking place, with Armenian representatives physically present in Baku,” he said. “Why, then, are questions of the life, health, and rights of prisoners not part of official Yerevan’s agenda — and why has not a single member of any delegation ever visited the detainees?”
“In light of the above, I urge you to consider organizing a visit to Baku with your participation, and, under appropriate conditions, with the participation of relatives of Armenian prisoners as well. My wife, Veronika Zonabend, has expressed her readiness to take part in such a trip, as have, in all likelihood, representatives of other families,” he added, appealing to Manasian.
In Vardanyan’s words, Manasian’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Sabina Aliyeva, has “expressed readiness to facilitate such a visit.” He revealed that he met with Aliyeva recently to raise with her concerns regarding his and the other captives’ prison conditions.
Vardanyan, who held the second-highest post in Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership from November 2022 to February 2023, was arrested at an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor in September 2023 as he fled the region along with its practically entire ethnic Armenian population. Seven other former Karabakh Armenian leaders were also arrested during the exodus that followed an Azerbaijani military offensive.
Five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment while the two others as well as Vardanyan received 20-year jail sentences in February at the end of yearlong trials denounced by Amnesty International as a “travesty.” They all denied a long list of accusations brought against them.
The Armenian government has still not officially reacted to the trials, stoking opposition allegations about its complicity in the continuing captivity of these and 11 other Armenians held in Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other Armenian officials insist that Yerevan has been doing its best to try to secure their release. Vardanyan’s American lawyer, Jared Genser, has repeatedly disputed those claims.
Pashinian was accused by his domestic critics of helping Baku legitimize Vardanyan’s continuing imprisonment with his scathing comments about the 57-year-old billionaire and philanthropist made in August 2024. Vardanyan hit back at Pashinian from an Azerbaijani jail in September 2024. In another statement circulated by his family in March 2025, he criticized the Armenian government’s appeasement policy towards Azerbaijan and accused it of spreading hate speech against the Karabakh Armenians.
