Photo by the media. Azerbaijan's prosecutor's office demands life sentence for ex-head of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan
The charges against Vardanyan include planning military actions, deportation of citizens, forced disappearance of people, and the use of torture, among other crimes. He denies all charges, claiming that the proceedings have a political background, and has previously conducted hunger strikes in protest against his persecution.
On December 18, his family released a statement in which Vardanyan declares that he does not consider the ongoing trial legitimate and does not intend to participate in a "mockery of justice."
Since his detention in 2023, he has been held in a pre-trial detention center in Baku, where he is charged with 42 crimes.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. previously approved amendments requiring the State Department to support the release of Armenian prisoners of war detained in Azerbaijan, as well as to protect Armenian cultural heritage and facilitate the return of displaced persons to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ruben Vardanyan, who was previously a Russian businessman, renounced his Russian citizenship and moved to Nagorno-Karabakh, was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities while attempting to cross the border into Armenia on September 27, 2023.
