Lawyer calls verdict of Baku court in Ruben Vardanyan case “a textbook example of violations”

Siranush Sahakyan, representative for Armenian prisoners at the ECHR, said at a press conference that the lawsuit concerning the case of Ruben Vardanyan, former State Minister of Artsakh, has been assigned a registration number and will be reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights.

According to her, the verdict of the Baku court is now available for review. Sahakyan called it “a textbook example” in terms of violations. Vardanyan was charged with dozens of crimes, including in areas with which he had no connection.

She stressed that in Vardanyan’s case, “not only legal and moral norms have been violated, but also the boundaries of human reason and common sense.”

“Ruben Vardanyan has been attributed with several dozen charges, one of which states that on November 16, 2021, Armenian armed forces attacked Azerbaijan, and that there were casualties and wounded as a result of repelling these attacks. This episode is attributed to Ruben Vardanyan, and he is also held criminally liable for this event,” Sahakyan noted.

She recalled that Ruben Vardanyan was appointed State Minister of Artsakh on November 4, 2022, had no authority over the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia or the Artsakh Defense Army, and was not involved in any of the decision-making chains.