YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist jailed in Azerbaijan, has launched another hunger strike to protest against his ongoing trial described by him as a “judicial farce.”
“This is my response to the blatant violations of Azerbaijani procedural law and international law,” he said in a statement circulated via his family on Wednesday, February 19. “What is happening in the courtroom cannot be called a trial — this is a political show, in which my right to a fair hearing is being deliberately disregarded.”
“This so-called ‘trial’ is not just against me,” added Vardanyan. “It is an attempt to criminalize all Armenians — all those who supported and demonstrated compassion towards Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and its people, all those who showed compassion. This is an attack on an entire nation. I refuse to participate in this farce.”
An Azerbaijani military court began the two separate trials of Vardanyan and 15 Karabakh Armenians on January 17. The defendants include three former Karabakh presidents — Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan. Like Vardanyan, they were captured by Azerbaijan during or shortly after its September 2023 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia and restored Azerbaijani control over the region. They are facing a long list of charges, including genocide and war crimes.
Vardanyan, who held the second-highest post in Karabakh’s leadership from November 2022 to February 2023, said he is tried for “exercising my rights to freedom of opinion and expression and political participation under international law, which have been aimed at protecting the rights of the Christian Armenian population of Artsakh.”
The tycoon went on to decry “egregious due process abuses” which he said were committed by Azerbaijani authorities before and during his trial. In particular, he said neither he nor his local lawyer, Avram Berman, has been given full access to 422 volumes of the criminal case against him.
