“If convicted, Vardanyan faces the grim prospect of life imprisonment. The new charges presented against Ruben Vardanyan fall under 20 different articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code. Illustrating The fabricated evidence is presented in more than 25,000 pages across 100 volumes, all written in Azeri.
The alleged evidence is conveniently hidden both from Ruben and public view based on claims the charges relate to the “national security of Azerbaijan”. The regime has, at the same time, refused to provide copies of the alleged evidence to Vardanyan and counsel, who are currently only allowed to review these materials without a proper translation and at limited times. Their ability to take notes is also restricted due to “national security,” further constraining Ruben and his counsel’s extremely limited ability to prepare the defense for the trial,” the statement issued by Ruben Vardanyan’s legal team reads.
“These charges represent a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s obligations under international law. The laundry list of charges - a transparently brazen attempt to blame everything that the Azeri regime did in Nagorno-Karabakh on Ruben - in addition to Azerbaijan’s refusal to provide and make public all of the charges and so-called evidence against Ruben for review, reaffirms that the charges are politically motivated and that the regime knows no objective observer would conclude there is any credible evidence to support its allegations. This approach is clearly designed for Aliyev to justify holding a secret trial before a tribunal that will be neither independent nor impartial,” said Vardanyan’s legal counsel, Jared Genser.
“The most recent charges against my father, are a travesty of justice and retribution for the failures of COP29 upon an innocent scapegoat. Ruben Vardanyan was the State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh for three months, where he sought to improve the livelihoods of its citizens through meaningful social programs. Sadly, he was rewarded with the threat of life imprisonment by one of the most corrupt regimes on earth. His arrest and these new fallacious charges are a symbol to all Armenians around the world that no one is safe. It has been over two years since our family has been able to see Ruben. We are afraid that we might not be able to see him again if the democratic world does not act to put an end to this non-sense,” said David Vardanyan, son of Ruben Vardanyan.
