Ruben Vardanyan faces life imprisonment in Baku

ArmInfo. Philanthropist  Ruben Vardanyan, who has been held captive in Azerbaijan for the  second year, now faces life imprisonment.  As reported by Vardanyan's  legal team, in an unprecedented escalation in the ongoing crackdown  on dissent, Azerbaijani prosecutors have unveiled a new and large  package of some 45 potential charges against Armenian philanthropist  Ruben Vardanyan, who 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  extent to which the regime is desperate to justify its ethnic  cleansing in Nagorno- Karabakh and illegal imprisonment of its former  leaders, the fabricated evidence is presented in over 25,000 pages  across 100 volumes, all written in Azerbaijani. The alleged evidence  is conveniently hidden from both Ruben and public view based on  claims the charges relate to 'national security' of Azerbaijan," the  Free Armenian Prisoners initiative reports.  At the same time, the  regime has refused to provide copies of the alleged evidence to  Vardanyan and his lawyers, who are currently only allowed to review  the materials without a proper translation and at limited times.

"Their ability to take notes is also limited due to 'national  security,' further constraining Ruben and his lawyers to prepare the  defense for the trial," the initiative said in a statement received  by ArmInfo. "These charges are a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan's  obligations under international law. The laundry list of charges is a  transparently brazen attempt to blame Ruben for everything the  Azerbaijani regime did in Nagorno-Karabakh. 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 that 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 is neither  independent nor impartial," Vardanyan's legal counsel Jared Genser  said in a statement.

While warning that the new charges signal an intensifying campaign by  Aliev to silence dissenting voices, Vardanyan's family are calling on  the democratic world to show that such egregious violations cannot be  tolerated anymore and to ensure the presence of international  organizations and media during the trial. "The 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 lives of citizens through meaningful social programs.  Unfortunately, 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 unless the democratic world takes action to end this  nonsense," said David Vardanyan, Ruben Vardanyan's son. 

A former State Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from  November 2022 to February 2023,Ruben Vardanyan has been imprisoned in  Baku in conditions that violate international law. His political show  trial, which has already been postponed several times, is expected to  fall far short of many international standards.