Ombudsman on Ruben Vardanyan's Torture

Ruben Vardanyan and all other hostages and captives are being brutally tortured in Azerbaijan's fabricated trials, responded the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Anahit Manasyan, during a press conference addressing journalists' questions.

“On behalf of Armenia, I cannot speak, because I neither represent the government nor the legislative authority; I can only speak within the framework of my held office. Naturally, we constantly carry out continuous monitoring and have a special expert who is also conducting monitoring on this matter. From the very first moment, we have seen the footage and tried to understand what we can do within the framework of our mandate. Please note that human rights defenders do not have mandates on such issues, nor do we have powers, and we are trying to take steps within the limits of our powers on international platforms,” said Anahit Manasyan.

Manasyan noted that after seeing the publications related to Ruben Vardanyan, her staff was immediately instructed to try to understand what actions they could take with international partners. “Naturally, we have already had discussions with international partners. It is also necessary to understand that most of our international partners present their activities in a confidential manner in this area, so I do not find it appropriate, taking into account ethical principles, to present many details at this time.”