Any Armenia-Azerbaijan treaty must include prisoner release, Noubar Afeyan tells CNN

CNN's Paula Newton speaks with co-founder and Chair of Moderna, Noubar Afeyan, about his hopes for the release of Ruben Vardanyan, his friend and former official in Nagorno-Karabakh, now being held by Azerbaijan.

Paula Newton: Armenia and Azerbaijan are said to have reached a peace agreement, which would end nearly four decades now of conflict. The neighboring countries have long fought over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region considered part of Azerbaijan, but for years, it was under the control of Armenian separatist. Nagorno-Karabakh’s former leader, Ruben Vardanyan, remains in prison at this hour, after Azerbaijan took control of this enclave in 2023. We do want to get to this peace agreement, but the charges are obviously serious. Your friend, Ruben, who served in the number two position in Karabakh, was arrested, as we were saying, by forces in September 2023. He was attempting to cross into Armenia. Azerbaijan has brought more than 40 charges against him. He actually faces life in prison. What do you understand he is being accused of?

Noubar Afeyan: Well, Paula, the situation — I think it’s important for your listeners to understand the context. This happened as part of a military offensive by Azerbaijan into what had been previously, for 30 years, a republic, consisting entirely of Armenians, who had lived there on historical land that had been inhabited by Armenians for thousands of years. Following a blockade of a year, they attacked and essentially drove out — in what’s been deemed an ethnic cleansing by many scholars — they drove out 120,000 Armenians, including Ruben Vardanyan, my close friend and colleague, who was there carrying out humanitarian projects. He was, indeed, for a period of three months, the State Minister of that republic.

The charges that have been thrown at him after one year of delays and delays in detention are essentially anything and everything. In fact, there are 42 charges, many of which predate his presence in Karabakh, going back to the 1980s, when he was a college student in Moscow. So, this is kind of a comprehensive effort to conduct a sham trial and throw everything possible a thim. I think it's important to realize that none of these charges were presented to him. The document [inaudible] is some 250,000 pages, written in a language he doesn’t speak, with no translation. So, essentially, he’s being charged with things he doesn't understand and with evidence that is completely controlled by the state.

Newton: In protest, he did go on a hunger strike. According to Armenian media, last week he ended that hunger strike. It began on February 19. What do you know about his condition? Have you been able to communicate with him? Has anyone been able to visit him, including his family?

Afeyan: Well, a couple of things. There has been limited access to brief phone calls that have been allowed during periods of his arbitrary detention. Essentially, from those, I’ve understood from his family his condition. In fact, Ruben’s hunger strike was the second time that he did that. Back in April, a year ago, he did the same for some 20 days. And essentially, the goal of the most recent one, which just ended, was to bring the attention of people to this sham trial, because ultimately, if this was an open judicial process, I think he would be glad to participate and defend his case. The reality is that the only physical visits that have taken place have been with the ICRC, the Red Cross, which was essentially kicked out of the country last week. So, the ICRC was kicked out, the UNDP has been kicked out of Azerbaijan, as has the UNHCR. So essentially, you have a closed, opaque judicial process.

What I know about his condition is that he is withstanding the various treatments that he’s had — the various times he’s been subjected to torture. But, essentially, this is a very difficult process, and unfortunately one that is not uncommon in states that are operated in this way.

Newton: I do want to get to this peace deal, which is far from finalized, but Armenian and Azerbaijani officials said that both countries had agreed to this peace agreement, which could end this conflict. But there are still obviously major sticking points here. It’s unclear if it will actually ever be signed, and I want to hear from you as well what you think that means for the fate of Vardanyan, your friend. But I do want to quote Marco Rubio here, the Secretary of State of the United States: “The United States commends Armenia and Azerbaijan for concluding negotiations on a historic peace treaty. This is an opportunity  for both countries to turn the page on a decades-old conflict in line with President Trumps’ vision for a more peaceful world. Now is the time to commit to peace, sign and ratify the treaty, and usher in an era of new prosperity for the people of the South Caucasus.”

Do you believe that we will see the finalization of this kind of a peace deal, and what will it mean for the release of prisoners? Have you heard anything from the Trump administration about this?

Afeyan: Well, the Trump administration has made two official statements: one, which was made by President Trump himself on social media, which demanded the release of the Armenian Christian prisoners, and the second that occurred just yesterday by NSA head Michael Waltz, who essentially asked for the same thing. He asked for the peace agreement to be signed, but importantly, either before or as part of the peace deal, for the Christian prisoners to be released. As I mentioned, Ruben is just one of eight political prisoners and one of 23 prisoners that have been kept illegally detained by Azerbaijan.

So, there have been clear, very direct messages from the Trump administration, and it’s clear to me and to many that any peace agreement that does not incorporate, either before or during its execution, the release of the prisoners, that that is in complete defiance of the challenge the Trump administration has placed and has very directly communicated to the officials in Azerbaijan. Look, there is a long history of forced peace agreements that follow a military aggression and ethnic cleansing, and those peace agreements unfortunately don’t last.

As a diasporan Armenian who was doing a lot of work for 25 years in helping Armenia develop and achieve a level of security and prosperity, I must say that while I would very much like to see a peace agreement signed, it has to be a true peace agreement. There are questions raised about whether this will ever get signed, because it’s pretty clear that Azerbaijan is using this war or this conflict for domestic reasons, while suppressing a lot of free expression there. The reality is that this agreement may not get signed, and if it does, if it excludes the release of the prisoners, I don’t think it’s worth the paper it will be on.