International human rights organization Human Rights Watch has addressed an alarm raised by former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan over the conditions in which Armenian prisoners are held in Azerbaijan, Factor.am reports.
The organization stressed that Azerbaijan should ensure that all prisoners can maintain regular contact with family members, receive letters and permitted parcels, obtain necessary medical care and spend sufficient time outdoors every day.
“Ruben Vardanyan, a former senior official in Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto administration who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Azerbaijan, said he and 18 other Armenian prisoners had been denied regular communication with their families, adequate physical exercise, medical examinations and other rights provided under Azerbaijani law,” the statement said.
In a message recorded on September 16 and released two days later, Vardanyan appealed to Azerbaijan’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Ombudsperson Sabina Aliyeva. He said some prisoners held at Umbaki prison had not been allowed their weekly phone call, while none had been able to make video calls.
“When my cellmate was arrested, his child was 10 months old. The child is now more than 3 years old and has not seen their father,” he said.
Vardanyan also said that he had been unable to undergo medical examinations even at his own expense, use notarial services or receive written responses to his complaints. According to him, prisoners were allowed outdoors only once a week for 20-40 minutes, instead of the prescribed one hour per day, the organization said in its statement.
Human Rights Watch said it had not independently verified these allegations.
On September 19, Aliyeva’s office denied allegations that the prisoners’ rights had been violated.
Communication between the prisoners and their family members became more difficult after the Azerbaijani government closed the delegation office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, in the country in September 2025.
The ICRC said its Geneva-based representatives visited the detainees last December, held private interviews with them, enabled them to contact family members and assessed their treatment and detention conditions. Visits have since become more irregular.
Human Rights Watch recalled that Ruben Vardanyan was arrested in September 2023, around the same time that more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan seized the region by military force.
The Baku Military Court sentenced Vardanyan on February 17, 2026, to 20 years in prison on charges including terrorism, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The trial raised serious concerns over guarantees of a fair trial.
Civilians, including Vardanyan, were tried in a military court, while court hearings largely remained closed to independent monitoring. Amnesty International said evidence was presented in a language the defendants did not understand and was not properly translated.
The organization also said Azerbaijan should provide the ICRC with regular access to people detained in connection with the conflict.
“No matter how much longer we have to spend in Umbaki, I ask you to at least uphold your own laws,” Ruben Vardanyan said.
According to official data, 19 Armenian prisoners are being held in Baku prisons. Sixteen have been sentenced to life or lengthy prison terms. Former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan was sentenced to 20 years in prison.