Chronology

1. A narrative of Ruben Vardanyan’s detention. What happened?

On September 27 in Artsakh, Azerbaijani border guards detained Ruben Vardan-yan, a public figure, philanthropist and former state minister of the region as he was trying to leave for Armenia. Security forces took him to Baku.

Soon Vardanyan was unlawfully charged under three articles, facing up to 14 years in prison due to these charges. The Azerbaijani court arrested the former state minister of Artsakh for a duration of four months.

Since then, the social entrepreneur has been under illegal arrest in a Baku prison.

Azerbaijan did not include Vardanyan in the list of prisoners to be exchanged with Armenia. According to Azerbaijani media, Baku will release 32 people, and Yerevan — two. But none of the former Artsakh leaders, including Ruben Vardanyan, was on this list.

At the end of December, representatives of Azerbaijan’s Committee Against Torture visited the prisoners and checked their condition.

“During the meeting, the detainees expressed satisfaction with their detention conditions. According to them, walks are organized for them from time to time, and there weekly telephone conversations with family members,” one of the representatives of the Committee Against Torture informed.

2. What is Ruben Vardanyan known for?

Ruben Vardanyan is a prominent philanthropist with hundreds of social projects in Russia and Armenia under his belt. He was co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, as well as founder and first president of the Skolkovo School of Man-agement. In Armenia, Vardanyan had a hand in creating the UWC Dilijan College, an international boarding school for teenagers.

The social entrepreneur actively engaged in charity work and supported cultural projects. In Moscow, for example, his name is associated with the transformation of the GES-2 exhibition space, in Armenia — with the restoration of the Tatev Monastery and creation of the Aurora initiative. The initiative funds projects aimed at raising awareness of the world’s most pressing humanitarian problems.

3. How is Vardanyan connected with Artsakh?

In October 2020, Ruben Vardanyan published a video on the IDeA Foundation’s YouTube channel, asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in the newest wave of conflict throughout Artsakh. “This is not an issue of national war, or a territorial war. It’s a matter of preserving humanity and basic human values,” Vardanyan said at the time.

Later, the philanthropist compared the situation in Artsakh to a red line being crossed. “When we talked about red lines, people asked what this red line was. A red line is the line, which after crossing you must either give up or fight. People ask us what it means to fight. Fighting, it is clear — we wake up every morning with an understanding of what to do and how to act in order to escape this situation,” he explained.

In June 2021, Vardanyan announced his decision to obtain Armenian citizenship. “I realize that as I become a public figure, I take on a great burden and responsi-bility, but I see no other way. We must build the future together,” he said.

A year later, on September 1, 2022, Ruben Vardanyan announced his intention to move to Artsakh and called for the extension of the Russian peacekeepers’ presence in the region.

He explained his decision with patriotic considerations and a desire to support local residents who were “in a grave psychological condition.” Vardanyan said he planned to open the ‘We Are Our Mountains’ territorial development agency in the region: on the one hand, it would work with state bodies, on the other hand, it would attract private capital and competencies.

A month later, as proposed by the region president, Arayik Harutyunyan, Vardan-yan agreed to assume the position of Artsakh’s state minister. Thus, on November 4, 2022, Ruben Vardanyan took office and held it for almost four months until February 23, 2023.

4. What did Vardanyan achieve as state minister of Artsakh?

Ruben Vardanyan held the first strategic session on the region’s development in Stepanakert on November 1. The event arranged by the territorial development agency ‘We Are Our Mountains’ brought together over 60 experts from various regions of Armenia and Artsakh.

The meeting identified key issues of the region’s strategic development in the most important areas — security, demography, education, economy, healthcare, social protection, and national identity.

Soon Vardanyan outlined his key objectives as head of the Artsakh government. He stated the importance of ensuring security and a decent standard of living, co-ordinating people. He understood the need to build a successful society with a strong economy and social institutions despite the lingering conflict. Later, major Russian businessman Sergey Sarkisov stressed that Vardanyan went to Artsakh “to create, not to wage war.”

In December 2022, Ruben Vardanyan commented on the beginning of the Artsakh blockade. “We have been under siege for 72 hours. I am proud to live here with you, and we will go through this crisis with great dignity. I truly believe that we will overcome. The strength and faith that I see in you gives me infinite energy,” stated Artsakh state minister.

He brought this problem to an international level — many major global media out-lets wrote about the blockade of Artsakh, and the entire world heard Vardanyan’s words on the region’s situation. Artsakh had never been in the spotlight so much as during those few months after becoming state minister.

One of the projects Vardanyan launched in Artsakh aimed to equip about 14 thou-sand square meters of greenhouses with special systems for achieving year-round harvests. Given the constant threat of the blockade, this initiative was crucial for Artsakh.

In addition, Vardanyan tasked the government with organizing an uninterrupted water supply to Stepanakert in the absence of electric power. A hybrid power plant with an installed capacity of 517 kW was built for the republican medical center. The complex was also protected against power outages — if a blackout occurred, vital departments could work up to 12 hours.

5. What are Azerbaijan’s claims?

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry demanded Vardanyan to leave Karabakh on De-cember 23, 2022. In response, he commented on Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bay-ramov’s statement, calling the situation a “full-fledged humanitarian crisis”: “I have been coming to Artsakh for 20 years. I’ve launched several projects here, arranged the restoration of a mosque in Shusha. I have Artsakh roots, my grandmother was born here. I have a house, and don’t really understand why I have to leave. I have always worked so that the people of Artsakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan could live side by side but not together. This is the only way to avoid conflict.”

In February 2023, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cited Vardanyan’s departure from the region as a condition for establishing a dialogue with the Armenian com-munity of Artsakh. “We are ready to start practical communications with the Ar-menian community of Karabakh. Today I informed my Armenian counterpart about this in the presence of Secretary Blinken,” he said during a plenary discus-sion on the South Caucasus at the Munich Security Conference.

As a result, Vardanyan was dismissed from his post as Artsakh state minister on February 23. The prosecutor general of the republic, Gurgen Nersisyan, was ap-pointed to the position. Nevertheless, Vardanyan refused to travel from the region and leave its Armenian residents to their fate.

On February 24, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov commented on Vardanyan’s resignation, noting that Baku is ready to begin integrating Artsakh res-idents of Armenian origin into Azerbaijani society.

6. What happened between Vardanyan’s dismissal and arrest?

For this period, Vardanyan remained in Artsakh and actively participated in the re-gion’s life. For example, within the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative founded by the philanthropist and his partners, an additional Aurora for Artsakh program was launched.

Its goal was to help Karabakh Armenians who suffered from the 2020 war. The territorial development agency We Are Our Mountains, created with Vardanyan’s participation, had been implementing projects to better the local residents’ lot since September 2022.

The philanthropist’s money and caring people’s donations made it possible to pro-vide Artsakh residents with over 280 tons of food, several hundred wood-burning stoves, as well as building materials for houses damaged in the military conflict. In addition, a mobile primary care team for residents of remote areas was created in the region.

In March, Vardanyan took part in the conference of the FUTURE ARMENIAN public initiative and commented on the Lachin corridor blockade. “The blockade of Artsakh has shown the claim that Armenians only think about food to be false. Ar-menians have a great need for discussing ideas. An Armenian needs to believe and know that they are important as a person. It cannot be achieved by filling the stores with food. The idea is important, we will not succeed without it,” he emphasized.

In May, the launch of the Artsakh Security and Development Front public move-ment was announced in Stepanakert. Vardanyan coordinated the movement. “We will do everything to make Artsakh safe, happy and independent. It is important to say that all of us are ready to do everything possible, to go all the way, ready to take responsibility,” the philanthropist promised.

In September, after Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terrorist operation,” Vardanyan said that a “full-fledged operation, a full-fledged war” was underway in the region. Two days later, he congratulated the Armenians on the Independence Day of Ar-menia from Stepanakert and stressed that there were two Armenian states — Artsakh and Armenia — “and no one has the right to forget this.”

On September 27, Ruben Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani border guards as he tried to enter Armenia. He was taken to Baku and accused of creating illegal armed forces, participating in their activities, and aiding illegal border crossing. He faces up to 14 years in prison under these charges.

7. How did the events develop after the arrest?

On September 30, in Yerevan, a march in support of Vardanyan and other people detained by Azerbaijan took place. At least 10 thousand people gathered near the Matenadaran Museum in the Armenian capital.

“Ruben Vardanyan and our other compatriots must be released immediately. The Armenian authorities must do everything to ensure this,” Soviet and Armenian ac-tor and screenwriter Vardan Petrosyan stated at the rally.

On October 2, Ruben Vardanyan’s four children asked for help in freeing their fa-ther. They stressed that he had never participated in military operations. On the contrary, Vardanyan and his partners founded the Aurora Humanitarian Founda-tion, which aims to promote peace and protect human rights around the world.

In connection with Armenia’s application filed with the ECHR on September 27, Azerbaijan provided the court with information about Vardanyan’s condition in early October. This information was passed on to the philanthropist’s close relatives.

On October 6, Commissioner for Human Rights in Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva met with Ruben Vardanyan. She expressed satisfaction with the detention conditions and noted that Vardanyan had undergone the initial medical examination and had no complaints about his health.

The philanthropist was allowed to talk to his family by phone, receive parcels and choose a lawyer. Three days later, the court in Baku ruled to uphold the decision of the first instance court and rejected the public figure’s appeal against the arrest.

Ruben Vardanyan first called his wife, Veronika Zonabend, from prison on October 12. The philanthropist said that he was “in a normal condition” and also asked his wife to take care of all the affected residents of Artsakh.

At the end of October, Elisa Von Joeden-Forgey, Executive Director of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, reported that human rights defenders were working on mechanisms for returning the captive residents of Artsakh from Baku.

In early November, the Baku prisoners were visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The captives were allowed to contact their families.

The “We are Our Mountains” agency (co-founded by Ruben Vardanyan) and its partners launched the Wings project, which is dedicated to the physical and mental rehabilitation of young refugees from Artsakh. Its other area of work was the Support for Artsakh Craftsmen project, which helps the residents of the region to master a new craft, improve their skills, or purchase the tools they need.

On November 23, the Center for Truth and Justice published a report on the consequences of the events in Artsakh. According to this report, the Azerbaijani side is obliged to release all prisoners under international law.

On November 28, ICRC members visited Ruben Vardanyan and other prisoners again. As David Galstyan, Member of the National Assembly of Artsakh, informed, the prisoners keep in touch with the head of the republic, Samvel Shahramanyan.

Closer to the end of the year, it became known that Azerbaijan refused to include Ruben Vardanyan in the list of prisoners to be exchanged with Armenia. Moreover, none of the former leaders of Artsakh were included in the list.

In January 2024, the court extended Ruben Vardanyan’s illegal detention for further four months. At the time, the philanthropist has been in detention for about 120 days.

In March, the fate of Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners was discussed at a major conference of the European Parliament in Brussels. Ambassador of Armenia to Belgium Tigran Balayan pointed out that the unsolved situation “is poisoning the atmosphere”.

On April 8, the social entrepreneur was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for developing peacebuilding initiatives and preventing a humanitarian disaster in Artsakh. The authors of the appeal recalled that the philanthropist contributed to the unification of nations and fought for human rights.

On April 19, the family of the social entrepreneur learned two weeks late that the philanthropist had gone on hunger strike. Ruben Vardanyan took this desperate measure after Azerbaijan ignored repeated requests to ensure a fair and transparent trial as provided by the international legal standards.

On April 26, the philanthropist was forced to end his hunger strike after persistent requests from his family, who were concerned about his health.

In June, Ruben Vardanyan’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal to the UN special rapporteur with the request to condemn a harsh treatment of their defendant. During his April hunger strike, the philanthropist was transferred to a punishment cell, deprived of sleep, denied drinking water for more than two days, forced to stand on his feet for long periods of time, cut off all communications with the outside world, and prevented from meeting with his lawyer or talking to his family by phone.

In September, the participants of the Free Armenian Prisoners initiative sent an open letter to Stefano Domenicali, Chief Executive Officer of the Formula 1 World Championship. On the eve of the competition in Baku, the authors of the letter urged to support the release of Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners.

8. What are they saying around the world?

In early October, the Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned the arrests of Artsakh representatives, including Ruben Vardanyan. The Foreign Ministry noted that Baku continued the arrests despite the ongoing dialogue with Stepanakert representatives and assurances of establishing peace in the region.

Prominent figures of culture and science from Russia have also asked the Azerbai-jani authorities to release Vardanyan. In their open letter, they emphasized his con-tributions to the development of education and charity in the Russian Federation and abroad.

It is noted that the philanthropist has always opposed all manifestations and forms of violence and supported an equal dialogue in all circumstances. “We appeal to everyone who has the power to influence Ruben Vardanyan’s release. We encour-age them to provide the opportunity to reunite with his family and return to creative work for the benefit of people,” the letter reads.

Among those signing the appeal are film director Alexander Sokurov, public figure Natalia Solzhenitsyna, founder of the Vera Foundation Nyuta Federmesser and ex-head of the Presidential Administration of Russia Alexander Voloshin.

On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke about Vardanyan’s fate. The head of state made a statement during the plenary session of the twentieth meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi. When the moderator asked whether Russia can call on the Azerbaijani leadership to show mercy towards the former leaders of Artsakh, Putin replied: “We always have and we continue to do so now.”

In early October, based on Rule 39 of the Court, the representative of the Republic of Armenia for international legal issues appealed to the ECHR with a demand to guarantee the rights of all former and current Artsakh leaders, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention, and to oblige Azerbaijan to immediately release Vardanyan and all people detained along with him.

On October 10, the community of the Skolkovo School of Management graduates made an open appeal in support of Ruben Vardanyan. The former students called for his release from prison so that he could return to his family and continue working on educational and humanitarian projects.

In early November, Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Moderna, expressed hope that the world would not turn a blind eye to Vardanyan’s arrest. The businessman called the Azerbaijani side’s accusations groundless and having “no factual basis.”

Famous British actor of Armenian origin Kev Orkian called on international organizations to secure the release of Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners. He believes that demanding to sign a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is only possible once this issue is resolved.

On November 8, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo pointed out the inadmissibility of arbitrary arrests of Artsakh residents, including Ruben Vardanyan. As Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahan Kostanyan informed, the ministry uses all available resources to accelerate the return of the illegally detained prisoners. He emphasized that the country raises this issue using all international platforms.

On November 15, National Assembly of Artsakh Member Metaxe Hakobyan stated that once he arrived in the region, Ruben Vardanyan quickly proved to the residents that he was one of them and that love for the motherland should be shown not through comfortable living, but through “experiencing its pain and suffering.”

In early December, former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo called the current situation “the culmination of a genocide.” Prominent writer and professor Nassim Taleb said that Vardanyan is being treated like a terrorist.

On December 12, more than 150 humanitarian figures, politicians and businessmen from all over the world signed an open letter calling for the release of former Artsakh leaders. They expressed concern about the detention conditions of those arrested and their future.

At the end of December, representatives of the major non-profit organization Center for Victims of Torture wrote an open letter to the Azerbaijani authorities calling for the release of Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners. According to the Center, the arrest of these people violates international law.

The social entrepreneur’s wife Veronika Zonabend broke her silence for the first time after her husband’s arrest and gave a lengthy interview. According to her, all Ruben Vardanyan’s initiatives continue despite his illegal detention.

“Of course, it is hard without Ruben, but at the same time, the need to continue our initiatives has become our foothold. It is important that the projects we started together live and develop. A lot of people depend on us, and we support our activities as far as the current situation allows,” Veronika Zonabend said.

In March, the fate of Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners was discussed at a major conference of the European Parliament in Brussels. Ambassador of Armenia to Belgium Tigran Balayan pointed out that the unsolved situation “is poisoning the atmosphere”. During the same month, the American Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention called on the international community to persuade Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian prisoners.

In early May, the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated its position in favor of the exchange and transfer of Armenian prisoners according to the formula “all for all”. The UN Committee Against Torture has expressed dismay at the reports of Azerbaijan’s harsh treatment of Armenian prisoners.

In June, during the preparations for COP29 in Bonn, the participants of the Free Armenian Prisoners team demanded Azerbaijan to release Vardanyan and other illegally detained Armenians.

In mid-July, Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia asked Iran to intervene for the speedy return of Ruben Vardanyan and the other prisoners.

In July, the representative of the interests of Armenian prisoners of war in the ECHR, Siranush Sahakyan, stated the need to ensure foreign presence at court hearings on the cases related to the former leaders of Artsakh. She pointed out that the investigation in Azerbaijan was not transparent.

The British magazine Express published an article by former UN Global Compact Deputy Prime Minister Paul Polman on the international community’s reaction to the illegal arrest of Vardanyan and other prisoners. It was emphasized that Baku is preparing to host the COP29 summit in November. According to Polman, for politicians from different countries and for the public, this is an opportunity to release prisoners.

At the end of July, former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said that the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in November in Baku is an unprecedented opportunity to free Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners. They called on Armenians from all over the world to launch a large-scale information campaign to support their compatriots.