The Vardanyans said on Friday he has been refusing food since April 5.
Authorities in Azerbaijan have not officially reported Vardanyan’s hunger strike, while RFE/RL’s Armenian Service cannot confirm the news independently.
Vardanyan, a billionaire who renounced his Russian citizenship and moved to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022, demands that he and other Armenian captives “held illegally” in Baku be released “immediately and unconditionally,” the family said.
They said that after Vardanyan went on a hunger strike they had been denied the opportunity of having phone calls with him. The Vardanyans called it “a clear violation of all norms of international law”, noting that Vardanyan’s trial expected in January was postponed until May “without any reason.”
Vardanyan’s son Davit said: “I am deeply concerned about my father’s health and condition. We haven’t seen him for more than 200 days. Since April 5, when he began his hunger strike, we have had absolutely no contact with him.”
Vardanyan, 55, was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities on September 27 when along with thousands of other ethnic Armenians he was crossing an Azeri checkpoint to move from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia as Baku was establishing its military control over the region.
Azerbaijan leveled serious charges against him, including “financing terrorism”, “participating in the establishment and activities of illegal armed organizations or groups”, and “illegally crossing the state border of Azerbaijan.”
Among ethnic Armenians kept in Azerbaijani prisons today are also former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakian, Arkady Ghukasian and Arayik Harutiunian as well as other officials of the unrecognized republic. All of them face grave charges as separatists.
Official Yerevan demands that Azerbaijan release all Armenian captives, including former Karabakh officials.