Tatoyan: Ruben Vardanyan and all our other hostages and captives are being brutally tortured through fabricated Azerbaijani trials

Ruben Vardanyan and all our other hostages and captives are being brutally tortured through fabricated Azerbaijani trials, aimed at fulfilling the Azerbaijani authorities’ thirst for revenge, resolving political issues, asserting their power at the expense of the Armenian people’s dignity, undermining our national consciousness, and deepening tension and division among us, Former Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia Arman Tatoyan writes.

“These ‘trials’ are necessary for the Azerbaijani authorities to legitimize their false political theses, to cleanse themselves of responsibility for ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, and to create grounds for aggression against Armenia.

Ruben Vardanyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Davit Babayan, Davit Manukyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, and our other compatriots must be immediately released—every minute and hour of their captivity is a grave crime.

We will also send targeted appeals to international organizations and the public, backed by the necessary justifications,” Tatoyan writes.