Veronika Zonabend, the wife of Ruben Vardanyan, who is being held in Azerbaijan, has announced the start of a new initiative, which envisages the visit of an international humanitarian delegation of women to Baku to support the Armenian detainees there.

In her official statement, Veronika Zonabend emphasized that this initiative is free from political context and is exclusively humanitarian in nature. The main goal of the mission is to restore at least minimal contact between the detained persons and their families. He noted that after the closing of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Azerbaijan, relatives were actually deprived of independent and regular humanitarian channels.

They are currently in prison in Azerbaijan Ruben Vardanyan and eighteen more Armenians. The author of the initiative reminded that some of them have not had any contact with their families for years, and international human rights protection mechanisms and state structures do not provide practical results in terms of ensuring contact.

As part of the preparation of the visit, Zonabend appealed to the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva. He requested the support of the human rights defender to organize official meetings, to provide access to the “Umbak” penal complex, as well as to provide an opportunity to deliver parcels, letters and photos to the detainees as permitted by law.

Over the next two weeks, the organizers are collecting letters of support and photos to deliver them to Baku. Words of support can be sent to the e-mail address letters@freearmenianprisoners.com by specifying “Letter of Support – Armenian Detainees” in the subject field of the letter and, if necessary, adding the name of the specific addressee. The names of the persons included in the international delegation will be published additionally.

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