On March 13, during a telephone conversation with his family, Ruben Vardanyan tried to make a public appeal to the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva, but the telephone conversation was forcibly interrupted. This was stated in the statement released by Ruben Vardanyan’s family.

“Ruben Vardanyan had to resort to this step, because the attempts to contact the ombudsman through a lawyer, written applications and phone calls in the previous 10 days did not yield any results. The trials ended a month ago, but neither Ruben nor, as far as we know, the other Armenian prisoners, have yet received their official sentences in any language, Russian, Armenian, or Azerbaijani. They do not know under what articles they were convicted, when or where they will be transferred. We are deeply concerned about the situation. The lack of reliable information about his and other Armenian prisoners’ whereabouts and the elimination of independent human rights mechanisms in Azerbaijan, including the removal of the International Committee of the Red Cross from the country, deprive all prisoners of any institutional protection. We also fear that even short phone calls, the only surviving means of communication, may be cut off. We are publishing the audio recording of Ruben’s appeal to Azerbaijan’s ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, which he was not allowed to finish. We hope it reaches the recipient.

RUBEN VARDANYAN’S URGENT APPLICATION TO AZERBAIJAN OMBUDSMAN SABINA ALIEVA (Transmitted during a telephone conversation with the family) 2026 March 13 “I would like to… Ombudsman of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mrs. Aliyeva. I have to address you. Although you generously provided your phone number during our first on-camera meeting in October 2023, I have not been able to contact you in the last 10 days, despite my best efforts through a lawyer, written submissions and phone calls. Therefore, I have to address you publicly. And unfortunately, I have no other way to convey to you what is happening here with me and my colleagues.

I request a meeting with you. You are the head of the only public institution that I can turn to in this situation, because all other Azerbaijani bodies either exercise state control or… (Ruben Vardanyan is interrupted here and is not allowed to continue his speech to the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan) And now they don’t even allow me to do that. I want to say that, unfortunately, they do not allow me to turn to you, so that you, the only person who can in this situation, there… I have not been able to receive the verdict for a month. neither Russian, nor Armenian, nor Azerbaijani. I don’t know what I was convicted for and under what articles. I am requesting a meeting so we can discuss all of this. Because, unfortunately, the Red Cross is gone. There is no other institution here that can keep in touch with us. The RA government does not have a representation here and is busy with supplies…” (The call is interrupted by the Azerbaijani side, not giving Ruben Vardanyan a chance to finish his speech to the ombudsman),” the statement said.

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