Ruben Vardanyan`s wife asks ICRC to clarify  legal status of Armenian  prisoners in Baku

ArmInfo. Veronika Zonabend, the wife of former Artsakh state minister and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Azerbaijan, has addressed a letter to Mirjana Spoljaric-Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), drawing attention to the legal status of Armenian  prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

The letter reads as follows: "Dear President Spoljaric, I am writing  to you on behalf of my husband, Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian citizen,  philanthropist, and former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, who  was illegally detained by the Azerbaijani authorities on 27 September  2023 while attempting to leave Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia.  I would  like to express my sincere appreciation for the work of the  International Committee of the Red Cross. ICRC's role and mandate are  truly unique and unparalleled. In times of cruelty, war, and  injustice, the ICRC remains a rare symbol of dignity, compassion, and  humanity with the noble mission of protecting the vulnerable. The  ICRC is one of the few international organizations in which team  members have not lost their sense of mission and continue to approach  their work with humanity and care. 

We deeply appreciate the ICRC delegates' visits to Ruben at his place  of detention in Azerbaijan. For our family, and I am sure for the  families of other detained Armenians, your visits mean far more than  a formal procedure.  I write with full understanding of the ICRC's  humanitarian mandate, as well as its long-established principles of  confidentiality, impartiality, and neutrality. At the same time, for  the families of individuals who remain unlawfully detained, it is of  profound importance to receive an impartial and professionally  grounded understanding of the detainees' legal status in Azerbaijan  at the time of the ICRC delegates' visits.

This need for clarity is rendered all the more urgent in light of the  manifestly deficient judicial proceedings in Azerbaijan, including  trials that lack fundamental guarantees and charges that appear  devoid of factual and legal basis. The suffering inflicted on the  families of the detainees as a result of their unlawful detention and  the conduct of proceedings that lack fundamental fairness is further  aggravated by the dissemination of misleading information and the  deliberate misrepresentation of the detainees' status by the  Azerbaijani authorities, who publicly and repeatedly label them as  "terrorists."

In this context, I respectfully ask for clarification of the specific  legal status under which Ruben and other Armenian detainees were  visited by ICRC delegates. In particular, we seek to understand  whether they were considered by the ICRC as persons deprived of  liberty in relation to an armed conflict, and as such whether they  were prisoners of war, security detainees, internees, or have another  status under applicable rules of international humanitarian law.

Such clarification would be of exceptional value. It would provide  much-needed reassurance to families and contribute meaningfully to an  objective understanding of how the detainees are regarded under  international humanitarian law and the ICRC's humanitarian visiting  standards.  Allow me to conclude by expressing sincere gratitude for  the humanity and dignity the ICRC brings to its work, qualities that  remain indispensable in a world where they are too often in short  supply.

Finally, I address you not only in your official capacity, but also  with a deeply personal appeal to the organization whose mission has  always been to place the protection of human life, dignity, and  justice above formalities and political considerations. For families  like ours, who are living through the anguish of prolonged and  unlawful detention of our loved ones, this belief in the ICRC's  humanitarian conscience is a source of hope. I sincerely trust that  this same spirit will guide your attention to the situation of Ruben  and other Armenian detainees."