“Please clarify the specific legal status on the basis of which ICRC p

The letter of Ruben Vardanyan’s wife, Veronika Zonabend, to ICRC President Miryana Spolyarich Eger, about the legal status of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Relatives of Armenian prisoners held in Baku have been deprived of the opportunity to see them for more than two years. Families are deeply concerned about their health. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross last had independent access to the Armenian prisoners. The ICRC was the only organization visiting their places of detention, but on September 3, 2025, it ceased operations in Azerbaijan at the request of the country’s government.

Under these conditions, the question of the legal status of prisoners, in the sense in which it is considered by international humanitarian law, takes on a special significance. Veronika Zonabend turned to the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoliarich Eger, with a request for clarification regarding this issue.

We publish the letter and reiterate the request to provide clarification on the legal status of the Armenian prisoners for the period when the ICRC representatives visited them, and to consider the possibility of answering this question.

“Dear President,

I am writing to you on behalf of my husband, Armenian citizen, philanthropist and former Minister of State of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ruben Vardanyan, who was illegally detained by the Azerbaijani authorities on September 27, 2023, while crossing from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC’s role and mandate are truly unique and unprecedented. In times of brutality, war and injustice, the ICRC remains a rare symbol of dignity, compassion and humanity, carrying out a noble mission to protect vulnerable people. ICRC is one of the few international organizations whose members have not lost their sense of mission and continue to approach their work with compassion and care. We sincerely appreciate the visits of representatives of the Red Cross to Ruben in the Azerbaijani detention center. For us and, I’m sure, for the families of other detained Armenians, your visits are much more important than just being an official procedure.

I am writing to you in full awareness of ICRC’s humanitarian mandate, confidentiality, impartiality and neutrality, long established principles. At the same time, it is extremely important for the families of the illegally detained to know what legal status their relatives had at the time of the ICRC representatives’ visits to Azerbaijan.

The need for clarification becomes even more urgent in light of the clearly flawed judicial proceedings in Azerbaijan, taking into account trials lacking fundamental safeguards and accusations lacking factual and legal basis. The suffering caused to their families due to illegal detention and unjustified trials is deepened when the Azerbaijani authorities publicly and regularly call these people “terrorists”, distorting the status of the detainees and spreading misleading information.

Considering the above, with all due respect, I would like to clarify the specific legal status on the basis of which ICRC delegates visited Ruben and other Armenian prisoners.

In particular, we are trying to understand whether the ICRC considered them as persons deprived of their liberty, whose deprivation of liberty was related to the armed conflict, according to which, they were considered as prisoners of war, detained for security reasons, interned or had any other status within the framework of international humanitarian law.

The clarification of this issue is extremely important. It will give families much-needed reassurance and insight into how detainees are treated under international humanitarian law and ICRC humanitarian visitation standards.

Let me conclude by expressing my sincere gratitude for the compassion and dignity that the Red Cross provides through its work. These are irreplaceable qualities, the lack of which is felt all over the world.

In the end, I want to address you not only in the form of an official letter, but also with a deeply personal appeal, as an organization whose mission has always been to put human life, dignity and justice above formalities and political considerations. For families like ours, who are experiencing the pain of long-term and illegal detention of a relative, faith in ICRC’s humanity is a source of hope. I sincerely believe that this spirit will guide you to pay attention to what is happening to Ruben Vardanyan and other detained Armenians.

Sincerely,

Veronika Zonabend”.

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