Former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Vardanyan delivers an audio message from detention in Azerbaijan

On Friday, former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan’s official page on Facebook published a roughly 12-minute audio message from Vardanyan, in which he talked about the need for a fair trial and long-lasting peace. He also hinted that it might be his last opportunity for him to send such a message.

Vardanyan transmitted the audio message on 5 March, asking his family ‘to record him during a phone conversation and make it public’.

The message begins and ends with him speaking in Armenian, while the main part of the message is delivered in Russian, with Vardanyan describing himself as ‘Armenian in spirit, [but] thinking and speaking in Russian’.

‘I am in good shape, I feel strong, my health is fine, I am in complete peace with myself, with my spirit strong as never before’, Vardanyan said.

The message comes after recent images were published following the launch of a hunger strike on 18 February, the second since his arrest by Azerbaijani authorities in September 2023.

The photos depicted Vardanyan showing signs of severe weight loss and apparent bruise marks on his face, which the Armenian side claimed to be marks of torture.

Armenia expresses concern over the ‘torture’ of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan

The marks of alleged torture were observed in photos of the Armenian prisoners published by Azerbaijan.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan

Addressing his hunger strike, Vardanyan underscored that it was a ‘protest’ ‘against the way this process is unfolding’.

When he launched his second hunger strike in February, Vardanyan passed his message through his family again, highlighting that it was a protest against his trial, which he called ‘a political show, in which my right to a fair hearing is being deliberately disregarded’.

In his audio message, Vardanyan reiterated that his demands remain the same and urged Azerbaijani authorities to judge him ‘professionally, publicly, openly’, ‘in the presence of international journalists and observers’, and along with the other 15 Nagorno-Karabakh officials and other representatives.

The trials are only open to Azerbaijani state media, while Vardanyan’s case was separated from the prosecutions of other Armenians.

‘Do not violate your own laws and procedures. Do not falsify documents, do not manipulate documents and protocols. After all, you have everything — all my gadgets, all my documents. I am fully open. Do not turn the trial into a mockery, an imitation, a show. If you judge, then judge fairly’, Vardanyan said.

Addressing Armenians, he noted that ongoing trials were ‘not the end of the whole story, the conflict — only another stage, unfortunately, for all sides’.

Noting that he has been accused of ‘everything’ that happened since 1987, he said that he was ‘ready to take the heaviest punishment’, if only it would help to establish peace and tranquillity, which was an ‘illusion’.

‘Evil must never be answered with evil’

‘I do not know whether I will have another opportunity to speak with you’, said Vardanyan, without elaborating.

The statement could be a reference to the possible closure of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Azerbaijan, whose representatives have been visiting Armenian prisoners and enabling the communication of the prisoners with their family members.

He used the opportunity to offer his apologies to different groups, including ‘all the children who lost their homeland’, and that ‘I did not do everything I could, everything I should have, to prevent this’.

Vardanyan also expressed his gratitude to ‘a large number of Azerbaijanis’ with whom he encountered since his detention ‘for staying true to basic human values, even though they see me as an enemy’.

Discussing the future, Vardanyan said that ‘evil must never be answered with evil — for then it only grows and strengthens’.

‘And after Sumgait comes Khojaly, and this cycle goes on endlessly’, Vardanyan said, adding that that path ‘has always been unacceptable to me, because it has no future, it is only a dead end’.

‘I am an optimist, and I believe that despite everything, we will overcome all the challenges and difficulties before us’, Vardanyan said, adding, ‘And we will again live in our homeland, in peace with our neighbour, respecting each other and overcoming the mutual hate and resentment that has built up, just as some other nations have managed to do’.

He noted that there was a need for ‘a real, stable, long-term peace, not just signed on paper’.

Ending his message speaking in the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian dialect, Vardanyan said that ‘everything will be alright’.