A military court in Baku sentenced Vardanyan on February 17, finding him guilty of a long list of crimes, including “financing terrorism,” at the end of a yearlong trial repeatedly described by him as a “farce.” Vardanyan’s family said the court has still not released the full text of the verdict, making it “impossible to understand even the formal grounds for the 20-year sentence.”
“Filing an appeal under these circumstances would imply recognition that the trial met at least minimal standards of law,” read a statement released by it. “This is far from the case.
“Ruben consciously refuses to participate in the imitation of a legal process. He does not recognize the verdict as an act of justice and considers it part of a politically motivated and unlawful prosecution – nothing other than a denial of justice.”
“The refusal to appeal is not the end of the struggle – it is a refusal to take part in a farce. We will continue to pursue justice through international legal mechanisms and other international institutions,” added the statement.
Throughout his trial, Vardanyan remained defiant both in the courtroom and in statements periodically communicated to his family members by phone. In his most recent statement circulated early this month, he said that “what is happening is not a trial but a judicial farce” and that he is “not afraid of any punishment.”
The 57-year-old billionaire, who held the second-highest post in Karabakh’s leadership from November 2022 to February 2023, was arrested at an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor in September 2023 as he fled the region along with its practically entire ethnic Armenian population.
Seven other former Karabakh Armenian leaders were also arrested during the exodus that followed an Azerbaijani military offensive. Five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and the two others received 20-year jail sentences on February 5 in a separate trial. Like Vardanyan, they denied similar charges brought against them. Amnesty International has denounced the jail sentences against them, Vardanyan and eight other Karabakh Armenians as a “travesty.”
By contrast, the Armenian government has still not officially reacted to the trials, stoking opposition allegations about its complicity in the continuing captivity of these and 11 other Armenians held in Azerbaijan. Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan pointedly declined to call for their release or criticize the jail terms when he addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.