"We need to act together to achieve the release of our illegally detained compatriots in both Azerbaijan and Armenia." Protest action to take place

Statement by the Coordinating Council of the "Miasin" alternative socio-political movement:

The "Together" socio-political, alternative movement once again focuses the attention of the Armenian society on the problems of our compatriots tortured in Baku prisons and endless trials. With the example of Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of Artsakh, a patriotic businessman and known for his international charitable programs, it is already obvious that the administration of the international criminal Ilham Aliyev is striving to buy and control experts from international organizations with their corrupt tools for laundering illegal money and "caviar diplomacy", trying to "document" their illegalities, present them as legal steps. The genocidal terrorist criminal is trying to blame the victim of genocide and present him as a terrorist, a war criminal.

On February 17, 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) published its Opinion No. 46/2024 on the detention of Ruben Vardanyan. The Group stated: “Azerbaijan’s detention of Vardanyan is not arbitrary.” In other words, Aliyev is, in fact, “right.” The consistent efforts of Luis Moreno Ocampo, the founding prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, have exposed the Azerbaijani brute force behind the expert opinion. The current chair of the Group, Hannah Yudkivska, is a partner at Equity Law Firm, which represents the state oil company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, in Ukraine. Her husband is a Ukrainian politician of Azerbaijani origin, who is accused of corruption, has strong ties to Azerbaijan, and has publicly supported Aliyev’s occupation policy towards Artsakh. Yudkivska is directly connected through financial flows to Azerbaijan, which is the party accusing Vardanyan and the rest of the Armenian hostages.

UN rules require exceptional independence and self-recusal when there is a conflict of interest, which did not occur. Any self-respecting state should have already turned to the UN to prevent the repetition of such dangerous precedents against its citizens and eliminate the gross violations committed, demanding an immediate review of the aforementioned opinion 46/2024, respect for the UN Charter. However, the mission and duty of defending justice have fallen heavily on Ocampo’s shoulders.

Why is the Civil Agreement, which came to power in the Republic of Armenia, headed by Prime Minister Pashinyan, silent? Where are the RA Foreign Ministry, the Minister of Justice, the RA Representative to the UN with his staff? The people, the civil society of Armenia must demand that the authorities be held accountable for their criminal inaction. Justice, the protection of the interests of the RA citizens are not the slogans of pre-election campaigns. The administration that neglects or is unable to solve these problems must leave.

The "Together" movement emphasizes that the current administration of the Republic of Armenia not only does not stand up for the protection of the interests of our citizens abroad, but also restricts freedom of speech at home, as evidenced by the dozens of our compatriots who have been arrested and who disagree and are fighting against the policies of the ruling power.

We believe that political and social structures and the active segment of society need to act together to achieve the release of our illegally detained and convicted compatriots in both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Therefore, we call on you to participate in the protest in front of the UN office in Armenia on October 14, 2019, at 12:00.

Popular unity can achieve the establishment of justice through its consistent struggle.

Together, we are invincible.

Coordinating Council of the "Miasin" Alternative Social and Political Movement

"10.10.2025."