“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. “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 toward 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 Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and Arkadi Ghukasian. 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’ 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, Avraam Berman, has been given full access to 422 volumes of the criminal case against him.
“Furthermore, my international legal team has been barred from communicating or visiting me and has not had access to any of the case materials,” he said, adding that he has also not been allowed to call in witnesses or file complaints.
Vardanyan also called on the international community to pay more “attention” the trials of the Armenian prisoners. “Silence in the face of such violations paves the way for future tragedies, fueling hostility and a new wave of hatred,” he said.
Vardanyan already went on hunger strike last April to demand the immediate release of himself and the other former Karabakh Armenian leaders. He ended it after Azerbaijani authorities allowed to him talk to his wife, Veronika Zonabend, by phone.
Vardanyan was reportedly put in a punishment cell in an Azerbaijani prison during the three-week hunger strike. In a subsequent appeal sent to the UN Committee against Torture, his family and American lawyer, Jared Genser, said he was denied water, forced to stand for many hours and subjected to sleep deprivation. Baku denied the claims.
In contrast with an outpouring of support for the captives voiced by prominent public figures in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora, the Armenian government has pointedly declined to condemn their trials. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed later in January that an explicit condemnation would only harm them.
Pashinian’s critics insisted that he is simply afraid of angering Baku. Genser similarly complained late last month that the Armenian government is doing little to try to secure the release of his client and the other former Karabakh leaders.