President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a post on the occasion of June 15 – the National Salvation Day on his social media accounts, Azernews reports.
Day: June 14, 2024
Sends Appeal to UN Special Rapporteur
A team of international attorney representing Artsakh’s former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who was detained illegally in Baku prison, filed an urgent appeal with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture on Thursday, imploring her to condemn the torture and ill-treatment that the Azerbaijani government has perpetrated against him, a statement issued by Vardanyan’s office said.
Vardanyan is an influential Armenian business leader, social entrepreneur, and philanthropist who also briefly served as State Minister of Artsakh. On September 27, 2023, in the wake of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ruben was arrested as he attempted, together with the remaining civilian population, to cross the border into Armenia through the Lachin corridor. That same day, he was remanded to pretrial detention and he has been detained on baseless alleged criminal charges ever since. In a continuation of Azerbaijan’s campaign of ethnic cleansing, his detention was soon followed by the arrest of other Nagorno-Karabakh leaders.
Vardanyan’s family and international counsel was disturbed to learn that during his hunger strike in April, Vardanyan was placed in a punishment cell, denied access to drinking water, deprived of sleep, forced to hold stress positions, denied access to his lawyer, and held in incommunicado detention. We are still unaware of the full extent of the psychological and physical trauma resulting from this treatment.
“Ruben Vardanyan is an inspiring humanitarian and philanthropist who has been advocating for the human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh for many years. It is extremely revealing that Azerbaijan views him as a threat that must be silenced through arbitrary detention and, more recently, torture and ill-treatment. If Azerbaijan wants to be taken seriously on the international stage – and if it wants COP29 to be the ‘COP for peace’ – then it must stop mistreating Ruben and release him and the other Nagorno-Karabakh political prisoners immediately,” said Jared Genser, one of Vardanyan’s attorneys.
From April 5 to 25 Vardanyan went on a hunger strike to protest his politically-motivated prosecution and that of the other Armenian prisoners. In retaliation, the authorities of the Pre-Trial Detention facility of the State Security Service – where he is currently detained – moved him to a punishment cell, which he was never allowed to leave for the duration of the hunger strike. The lights in the cell were kept on around the clock, which lead to severe sleep deprivation and exhaustion. In addition, he was forced to stand for extended periods of time and was deprived of drinking water for over two full days. Moreover, he was not allowed to bathe or change clothes; he was not given any toilet paper; he was not allowed to have any books or paper; and there were no bed sheets (so he had to sleep on a dirty mattress). Of particular concern, neither Vardanyan’s lawyer nor anyone else was allowed to visit him during the hunger strike and his communication with the outside world (for example, through phone calls with family) was cut off.
This treatment – intended to punish Vardanyan for staging a hunger strike, and also for his political service in and advocacy for Nagorno-Karabakh – violates Azerbaijan’s obligations under the Convention Against Torture, as well as The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules).
“Unfortunately, Ruben’s mistreatment comes as no surprise – Azerbaijan has a well-documented history of torturing political prisoners generally and ethnic Armenian detainees specifically,” said a statement from Vardanyan’s office said.
“Given Ruben’s ethnicity, his status as a former high-level official in the Government of Nagorno-Karabakh, his outspoken criticism of Azerbaijan’s treatment of Nagorno-Karabakh and its people, and his detention at the hands of the State Security Service (which is notorious for the torture of ethnic Armenians), he is at imminent risk of further torture and ill-treatment,” the statement added.
“We were shocked to learn of the horrors that my father has had to endure. It is terrifying to think of what is being done to other less prominent prisoners in Azerbaijan who have not received the international support that my father has. For the sake of all the current political prisoners in Azerbaijan – whether Armenian, Azerbaijani, or any other nationality – this inhumane treatment of prisoners must be stopped. We urge the UN to hold the Azerbaijan Government accountable and to help protect my father’s life,” said Vardanyan’s son, David.
Numerous human rights organizations, national governments, and international bodies have called for Azerbaijan to release Ruben and the other Nagorno-Karabakh political prisoners. Most recently, on June 11, 2024, U.S. Senator Ed Markey called for the prisoners’ release on the Senate floor, specifically noting and condemning Ruben’s recent mistreatment.
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday again threatened to crack down on Nagorno-Karabakh’s exiled leaders, saying that they are encouraging Karabakh Armenian refugees to participate in antigovernment protests in Yerevan.
Pashinyan already voiced such accusations earlier this week during two days of heated parliament debates held amid a standoff outside the Armenian parliament building between security forces and protesters demanding his resignation. He repeatedly lashed out at Karabakh’s current and former leaders, including those jailed in Azerbaijan, saying that they, rather than his administration, are to blame Baku’s recapture of the region last September.
Pashinyan alleged that Karabakh forces did not fight back the Azerbaijani offensive because the authorities in Stepanakert as well as the Armenian opposition wanted the region’s population to flee to Armenia to topple him. He also lambasted Karabakh generals critical of him.
“They are cowardly deserters, cowardly deserters, cowardly deserts,” he shouted on the parliament floor on Wednesday, provoking furious reactions from opposition lawmakers.
Samvel Sharamanyan, Karabakh’s Yerevan-based president, rejected Pashinyan’s allegations on Thursday.
“The people of Artsakh held out not for two hours but for 32 years, and every Artsakh child over the age of 7 has seen three large-scale wars,” Sharamanyan told reporters. “As regards the last [Azerbaijani] actions, I have already said in my speeches that within hours we realized that we are alone, that resisting the Azerbaijani armed forces outnumbering us by a factor of 12 to 1 was not possible and we had to save lives.”
At least 198 soldiers and 25 civilian residents of Karabakh were killed during the 24-hour hostilities. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry acknowledged around 200 combat deaths among its military personnel involved in the operation. Baku stopped the operation and allowed the region’s entire population to flee to Armenia after Sharamanyan’s administration agreed to disband the Karabakh army and surrender its weapons.
Sharamanyan on Thursday also criticized Armenian riot police for using “disproportionate force” against the antigovernment protesters led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. What is more, he declared that the Karabakh refugees have a “legal and moral right” to participate in peaceful demonstrations “because we believe they are also citizens of Armenia.”
Pashinyan hit out at Karabakh’s “clerical-feudal elite” during a cabinet meeting held the following day.
“We are very patient and tolerant … but nobody should perceive this as a government weakness,” he said. “Yesterday, I had the opportunity to say this from the podium of the National Assembly. I hope that the recipients of these messages will accept these messages and not force us to deliver, so to speak, these messages to specific addresses.”
The Armenian authorities have already cracked down on at least three Karabakh leaders who signaled last month support for Galstanyan’s protest movement. The exiled mayors of Stepanakert and the northern Karabakh town of Martakert were arrested later in May. They as well as another Karabakh mayor, who was placed under house arrest, deny fraud and forgery charges leveled against them.
Sharamanyan spoke to the press outside a court in Yerevan that agreed on Thursday night to move the Stepanakert mayor, Davit Sargsyan, to house arrest. He described the criminal case against Sargsyan as “political persecution.”
Pashinyan already issued a similar warning to Sharamanyan in March after the Karabakh leader said that the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic continues to exist despite the Azerbaijani control over the region.
Artak Beglaryan, a former Karabakh premier also supporting the protest leader, condemned Pashinyan’s latest threats, saying that the Armenian premier and his political allies are spreading hate speech against the Karabakh Armenians.
“They offend not only the people of Artsakh but also a large part of the Armenian people for whom Artsakh is one of the important pillars of identity,” Beglaryan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia said in an announcement on Friday that its organizational headquarters in the Vayots Dzor Province was raided by government-backed security forces.
“A raid was carried out this morning in the regional offices of the party in Vayots Dzor. Leaders of the region’s bodies were detained and arrested on overtly baseless charges. This is a continuation of the same fruitless actions carried out against the party’s Armavir and Ararat regional structures in previous years,” the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia said in a statement.
Below is the complete translated text of the statement.
The current regime in Armenia is continuing its large-scale attack on the Armenian Revolutionary Federation through immoral and illegal methods.
Severals days ago, police officers, acting like hooligans, attacked the headquarters of our party in Yerevan and attempted to break into the building. Having encountered resistance, the officers then attacked and beat up the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia chairman and illegally detained several party members.
As part of the regime’s intention to carry out their criminal agenda at any cost, several media outlets and law enforcement agencies under the government’s control are being engaged to advance a fictional scenario suggesting that members of the party’s leadership have financial motivations for taking part in popular movement.
These utterly false and and despicable accusations are not only is not only inane and hollow, but also a testament to moral compass of the people making them.
A raid was carried out this morning in the regional offices of the party in Vayots Dzor. Leaders of the region’s bodies were detained and arrested on overtly baseless charges. This is a continuation of the same fruitless actions carried out against the party’s Armavir and Ararat regional structures in previous years.
During it 134 year history, the ARF has experienced countless deprivations and seen many prison cells. It has faced enemies and traitors, but it never has given up and has always overcome all obstacles. We are certain that we will overcome these challenges as well.
We are warning the government and all its operatives who are violating Armenia’s Constitution and laws that inevitably they will be held accountable to the strictness of the laws.
ARF Supreme Council of Armenia
June 14, 2024