Azerbaijani outlet unikal.az has claimed that Veronika Zonabend could face up to five years in prison if she travels to Baku to visit her husband, illegally held Armenian hostage Ruben Vardanyan, citing her 2022 visit to Artsakh.
Zonabend has now asked to accompany Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan on a possible visit to Baku. Simonyan recently said he had not ruled out traveling to Azerbaijan, prompting her September 8 appeal to join him and arrange meetings between Armenian hostages and their families.
“I am ready to travel to Baku with you,” she wrote, adding that relatives of other hostages shared her wish.
She asked whether Simonyan intended to visit the hostages and whether he would meet their families beforehand to hear their requests and receive letters for their loved ones.
The Azerbaijani publication preceded her appeal to Simonyan. Published on August 31, it referenced her Forbes Woman interview about her last meeting with Vardanyan in Artsakh and her efforts to organize a humanitarian visit to Baku.
unikal.az described her 2022 visit as an “illegal” entry and cited Azerbaijan’s criminal provisions on unauthorized border crossings to argue that she could be prosecuted upon arrival.
Zonabend has been seeking to organize an international women’s humanitarian delegation to visit Armenian hostages and deliver letters, photographs and personal items from their families. She has stressed that the initiative is strictly humanitarian and is being pursued through official and diplomatic channels, with security guarantees sought for participants.
Vardanyan, an Armenian philanthropist and former Artsakh State Minister, was taken hostage by Azerbaijani forces on September 27, 2023, at the checkpoint in the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor while attempting to leave Artsakh during Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population.
In February 2026, a Baku military court illegally sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He remains illegally held in Azerbaijan alongside other Armenian hostages, including former Artsakh officials.
