Jared Genser insisted that the Armenian government has done little to get Baku to free the prisoners described by him as “hostages.” He again listed concrete steps which he believes should be taken by the government.
Those include asking the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send “trial monitors” to Baku, appealing to the United States and the European Union “for their help” and linking the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal with the prisoners’ release. Pashinian’s government must declare that a “top priority.”
Pashinian appeared to rule out such actions during his government’s question-and-answer session in the Armenian parliament on Wednesday. He said Yerevan will take only “proportionate” and “reasonable” steps.
“The prime minister’s duty is to focus not just on one person but also on Armenia’s state interests and the interests of Armenia’s citizens,” Pashinian told an opposition lawmaker who showed him a picture of a visibly gaunt Vardanyan standing trial in Baku along with seven other former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Genser responded by pointing to vigorous U.S. efforts two free two Americans jailed in Iran. Those included the appointment of a special “envoy on hostage affairs” and statements by the U.S. president, secretary of state as well as diplomats working at the United Nations.
“This was all reasonable and proportionate for the United States,” Genser wrote on X. “Yet to my surprise, as far as I can tell, Armenia has done none of these kinds of very basic things for the Armenian hostages in Azerbaijan.”
“So I ask Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian - do you agree doing these things are reasonable and proportionate or are you really saying that the kinds of efforts President Donald Trump has been taking to recover American hostages like Marc Fogel and [American citizens] from Belarus and Venezuela have been unreasonable and disproportionate?” added the lawyer.
Genser already described Yerevan’s stance on the issue as “frustrating and disappointing” in January. Pashinian’s domestic detractors have been even more critical, saying that the premier is simply scared of angering Baku and jeopardizing his appeasement policy on Azerbaijan.
Vardanyan went on hunger strike more than two weeks ago to protest against his separate trial described by him as a “political show.” The former Karabakh premier looked frail and had apparent bruises on his face when he was brought before an Azerbaijani military court last week. The images circulated by Azerbaijani state media added to public fury anger the Armenian government’s cautious stance.
An Armenian politician, Mane Tandilian, and two other supporters of Vardanyan went on hunger strike in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on March 1 to implore the tycoon to stop refusing food. Tandilian continued her hunger strike on Thursday despite being briefly hospitalized and warned by doctors earlier this week.