Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Contacts Ruben Vardanyan’s Wife After She Says Government Had Not Reached Out

33 minutes ago
2 min read

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry contacted Veronika Zonabend, the wife of Armenian prisoner Ruben Vardanyan, on Monday after she publicly said no government official had reached out to her about her proposed humanitarian mission to Azerbaijan.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Armenian Service that Zonabend had been verbally offered a meeting. The date is now being coordinated, according to RFE/RL.

The outreach followed remarks from Zonabend earlier Monday saying she had received no contact from the Armenian government despite previous statements that officials would speak with her.

The Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL that a possible meeting had already been under discussion. The offer, however, was conveyed after Zonabend made her comments.

The meeting is expected to focus on an initiative Zonabend announced in June to organize an international delegation of women to travel to Baku and visit Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

Zonabend has asked Azerbaijan’s human rights commissioner to facilitate the trip and allow the delegation to visit Armenian prisoners at Umbaki prison. She also wants the group to deliver letters, photographs and packages prepared by their families.

She has argued that Armenians imprisoned in Azerbaijan have gone years without regular access to their relatives through independent humanitarian channels.

“For the prisoners, this is a reminder that they have not been forgotten,” Zonabend said when outlining the initiative. She plans to join the delegation herself.

Zonabend sought support from both Yerevan and Baku last month, sending letters to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s human rights commissioner.

In her July 30 letter to Pashinyan, Zonabend asked the government to appoint an official to coordinate the initiative and provide the diplomatic and practical assistance needed to prepare the visit.

The Foreign Ministry contacted her 10 days later.

Vardanyan, a businessman and philanthropist who served as state minister of the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Azerbaijan.

The renewed attention to the prisoners comes as Armenia and Azerbaijan mark one year since their leaders met in Washington and initialed a peace agreement. The Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan were not addressed in that document.

In an Aug. 8 statement marking the anniversary of the Washington summit, Pashinyan acknowledged that their continued detention remains a major concern.