Ruben Vardanyan’s Case Submitted to European Court of Human Rights

Ruben Vardanyan addresses a court in Baku during his sham trial in 2025

An appeal was filed at the European Court of Human Rights regarding the case of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who is serving a 20-year sentence in a Baku prison after a sham trial, which found him guilty of unfounded charges.

Vardanyan was among Artsakh leaders who were captured following Azerbaijan’s brutal attack in 2023 that resulted in the forced displacement of the entire Armenian population there.

Siranush Sahakyan, head of the Center for International and Comparative Law, and representative of the interests of Armenian captives at the ECHR announced the filing on Wednesday, saying that she will be the lead attorney on the case.

The application details violations of eight articles of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, supported by comprehensive legal and factual arguments, Sahakyan outlined in her statement.

“The court did not read the judgment in its entirety. Later, from the verdict made available through his family, it became clear that Vardanyan was found ‘guilty’ on 41 counts, based on 21 articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Vardanyan’s individual guilt was not substantiated by facts or evidence in the verdict. Instead, the court concluded that the ‘criminal community,’ referring to the administration of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, had operated in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, and that Vardanyan joined this ‘community’ in December 2020, even though he was residing in Moscow at that time,” Sahakyan explained in the statement.

“The court interpreted Vardanyan’s assumption of a civilian administrative post as a violent seizure of power, his commercial and charitable activities as illegal entrepreneurship and financing of terrorism, and his entry into Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin Corridor as an illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border,” Sahakyan added.

Unlike the other 15 Artsakh leaders who were tried separately, Vardanyan did not appeal the verdict, considering the trial staged and predetermined, and all domestic remedies ineffective. Indeed, it is impossible to protect one’s rights within a system that inherently denies the right to a fair trial. In these circumstances, he chose to seek justice through international legal mechanisms.

In an interview with News.am, Sahakyan said that “it is predicted that the military court’s verdict will be upheld” in the case of the 15 Artsakh leaders who appealed their cases.

“No court in Azerbaijan can serve as a mechanism for protecting the violated rights of ethnic Armenians, especially when dealing with any matter related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Sahakyan explained.

She added that Vardanyan’s case was appealed to the ECHR, because “it is impossible to protect rights within a system that from the outset rejects justice and rights, and where the trial is a ceremony for carrying out the executive branch’s political decisions.”

She explained that she was able to review the Vardanyan’s verdict and “it immediately became clear why the sessions were held behind closed doors, without the participation of international observers and international media representatives.”

“Through the family, we gained access to the verdict, which was translated into English and submitted along with the relevant documents. We expect that the ECHR, in accordance with its procedures, will proceed with the complaint,” added Sahakyan.

“It is obvious that during the more than one-year preliminary investigation and the one-year trial, they [Azerbaijani authorities] actually failed to find any reasoning even remotely close to logical for the ‘charges’ they themselves had invented. We are dealing with an unprofessional, fragmented document that cannot withstand any professional criticism whatsoever, called a ‘verdict,’ on the basis of which our compatriots are, in essence, being held as illegal hostages in that country,” Sahakyan said.

The human rights attorney delineated in the News.am interview the violations of the European Convention on Human Rights pointed out by her in the case.

“First and foremost, this concerns the right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 6 of the Convention. Moreover, the violations concern all three points of this article. The violation of this article alone already casts doubt on the entire judicial process and the legality of the verdicts rendered. Violations of certain other rights were also raised in the context of the prohibition of discrimination and the prohibition of restricting rights for political motives,” Sahakyan said.

The attorney explained that the military court in Baku characterized Vardanyan’s assumption of the Artsakh State Minister position as a “violent seizure of power”; his commercial and charitable activities as “illegal entrepreneurship and financing of terrorism”; and his entry into Nagorno-Karabakh via the Lachin Corridor as “illegal crossing” of Azerbaijan’s state border.

“At the same time, the verdict does not cite any specific order given by Vardanyan to kill, torture, displace, or attack the civilian population, nor does it confirm his personal participation in the incidents attributed to him,” said Sahakyan.

Sahakyan told New.am that she is confident that a ruling by the ECHR will not remain without consequence sooner or later, and “I am more than convinced that we have every basis for achieving a positive outcome at the ECHR.”

However, she lamented that her experience in recent years has shown the powerlessness of international institutions, since this same Azerbaijan has not implemented resolutions of either PACE or the European Parliament, has ignored numerous appeals, and has even disregarded decisions of the International Court of Justice.

“Such an attitude by Azerbaijan does not in the least bit prevent EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas from calling Azerbaijan’s dictator an important partner,” Sahakyan said.

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