The Czech newspaper Idnes.cz reports that Ruben Vardanyan, nominee for the Václav Havel Award, suffers in an Azerbaijani prison: he has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to him, other former leaders, including former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, have also been sentenced in Baku:
Amnesty International condemned the trials, calling them "opaque" and "fabricated," and the European Parliament condemned the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war in a special resolution:
Vardanyan, who previously served as the state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, has been recognized as a human rights defender, and his work within the framework of the humanitarian initiative "Aurora" has received international recognition:
Awarding the prize could be an important step towards his release, as well as the release of other Armenian prisoners:
Experts estimate that the number of Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan reaches several hundred:
