Human rights defenders do not have a mandate to deal with these matters. This was stated by the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) of Armenia, Anahit Manasyan, at a press briefing Thursday—and in response to a reporter’s question about whether she had seen the video recordings where it is clearly visible that there are bruises on the face of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, who is being held captive by Azerbaijan, and what Armenia was doing in that regard.

“We are trying to convey information within the context of our mandate, including confidentially with our international colleagues, and address these human rights issues. We ourselves are conducting constant monitoring, we have a special expert who is also conducting constant monitoring in connection wit this domain. Naturally, from the very first moment we have seen the footage and have tried to understand what capacity we have to implement within the framework of our mandate. We are studying the information presented in different languages,” added Manasyan.

She noted that after seeing the aforesaid video recordings, she instructed her staff to find out which international colleagues they have to deal with.

“We have prepared formats of cooperation with them with various content. Communication has been conducted with international colleagues. But since the main part of international colleagues carries out its activities confidentially, I, also taking into account the principles of ethics, do not consider it appropriate to present many details,” said the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

Manasyan noted that she had addressed her Azerbaijani counterpart in the first days of her tenure, but had not received any response to date.

“I have specifically emphasized that these matters, from my point of view, are humanitarian and human rights issues, and in their context it is possible to carry out apolitical communication. In this context, I do not consider it very right not to respond at all because many issues can be resolved through this communication,” added Anahit Manasyan.