EU closely monitoring the case of Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners held in Baku — Maragos

The family of Ruben Vardanyan, the former State Minister of Artsakh illegally held in Baku, issued a deeply alarming statement on March 16, publishing an audio message from Vardanyan addressed to Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva.

In the recording, Vardanyan can be clearly heard being interrupted. Also of concern is the fact that a month after the announcement of the “verdicts,” the Armenian prisoners held in Baku have still not received the texts of those verdicts in any language. Human rights advocates believe this may deprive them of the ability to appeal the “verdicts.”

NEWS. am sent inquiries to various international organizations, embassies, and a number of Armenian institutions, seeking to find out what steps are being or could be taken in such a situation. The agency has already received a response from EU Ambassador to Armenia Vasilis Maragos.

The question put to the ambassador was as follows: “You have welcomed the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, while such an important issue as the humanitarian one remains unresolved. Moreover, Armenian prisoners are entirely lacking effective protection mechanisms. Are you, as EU Ambassador to Armenia, monitoring the developments of this situation? And given that Armenia has no diplomatic representation in Azerbaijan, what mechanisms can the EU use to protect the rights of Armenian prisoners?”

In response, Ambassador Vasilis Maragos assured that the EU is closely monitoring developments in the cases of Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners held in Baku’s prison. “I want to assure you that the EU is closely following the cases of Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners held in Baku’s prison. Regarding this specific case, I would like to emphasize that the EU has positively assessed various constructive aspects of the historic progress achieved between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the past several months in the peace settlement process. We hope that all unresolved issues, including the painful humanitarian ones, can be addressed between the parties.

As we understand, based on public statements by the Armenian authorities, the issue of Armenian prisoners is being raised within the framework of the bilateral peace process,” he stated.