Two years in Baku prison: facts from Ruben Vardanyan's "case"
- Armen Sukiasyan
- Sep 27
- 4 min read
On September 27, 2023, on the way to the forced deportation of thousands of Artsakh residents to Armenia, near the Hakkari Bridge, the well-known philanthropist and humanitarian Ruben Vardanyan was arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities and transferred to a Baku prison. He briefly held the position of State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh from November 4, 2022 to February 23, 2023, and after his dismissal, he decided to remain in Artsakh and be with the Artsakh residents suffering from the deprivations of the blockade.
In late September and early October 2023, the arrest of Ruben Vardanyan was followed by the arrests of former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan, former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army Levon Mnatsakanyan, former deputy commander David Manukyan, former presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, and NA Speaker David Ishkhanyan.
On April 5, 2024, Ruben Vardanyan declared a hunger strike. in a Baku prison, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of himself and other Armenian prisoners illegally held in Baku. He continued his hunger strike until April 24, the day of the Armenian Genocide. It was later revealed that he had been tortured during the hunger strike.
On June 13, 2024, Ruben Vardanyan's international legal team submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, reporting on the torture and ill-treatment committed against him by the Azerbaijani government.
In November 2024, Ruben Vardanyan's international lawyer, Jared Genser, announced that the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office had denied him entry to Baku, thus violating the norms of international law.
On December 16, 2024, Ruben Vardanyan's defense team announced that Vardanyan had been charged with 42 possible crimes, and if convicted, he could face life in prison. The charges against Ruben Vardanyan relate to 20 different articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. The fabricated evidence is presented in 422 volumes, totaling 105,000 pages, all in Azerbaijani. Neither proper translation nor time was provided for their review.
On December 28, 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan announced that the cases of 16 Armenian prisoners of war had been transferred to court .
On January 16, 2025, Ruben Vardanyan managed to convey a message from Baku prison through his family, stating that he had not given any testimony since the first day of his arrest, that all the protocols with his signature were fake, and that his lawyer and translator were forced to put their signatures under these documents.
On January 17, 2025, the international human rights organization Amnesty International responded to Ruben Vardanyan's statement, calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure the right to a fair trial.
On January 17, 2025, almost 1 year and 5 months after the illegal arrest, the so-called “trial” began in the Baku Military Court. Although the Azerbaijani authorities had announced “open trials,” only the state-run media outlet AzerTaj is participating in them. All applications from international independent observers to attend the trial have been rejected or ignored.
Ruben Vardanyan's case is being heard separately from the cases of Artsakh figures and other prisoners. During the very first hearing, Ruben Vardanyan requested that his case be heard in a joint proceeding with the others, but the court rejected that and his other motions.
On January 19, 2025, Ruben Vardanyan announced a second hunger strike , thereby expressing his protest against the judicial farce being carried out against him: “This “trial” is not only against me. This is an attempt to condemn all Armenians who have helped and supported Artsakh and its population. This is a blow to an entire people. I refuse to participate in this farce.” The second hunger strike lasted 23 days, significantly exhausting him. Nevertheless, his extreme step drew the attention of the international community to the sham trial being conducted in Azerbaijan.
On March 12, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan's inhumane treatment of Armenian hostages and demanding their immediate and unconditional release.
On March 7, 2025, during phone calls organized through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross , Ruben Vardanyan was able to convey an extensive and, for the first time, audio message to the family, making several key statements and emphasizing that the "trial" is against the entire Armenian people: "They are not judging me and the other 15 people, but all Armenians."
On June 5, 2025, Ruben Vardanyan's lawyer Abraham Berman made a statement in Baku, noting that criminal liability can arise only for actions that a given person actually committed at a specific time and place and under conditions that made it possible to commit those acts.
On July 11, 2025, lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, a representative of Armenian prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights, published a document on the gross violations of Ruben Vardanyan's rights in the Baku court, recording that "as a result, a fundamentally unfair procedural situation has been created, where the defense is deprived of any realistic opportunity to dispute the charges or prove his innocence."
On September 3, 2025, at the request of the Azerbaijani authorities, the Red Cross officially announced the cessation of its activities in Azerbaijan. The ICRC was the only international organization that had the opportunity to visit Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku.
2025. 36 sessions were held throughout the trial, which began on January 17 and has been going on for more than eight months. During that time, no evidence was presented about the “crimes” committed by Ruben Vardanyan personally. Moreover, he is being accused of acts that he could not have committed even in terms of time. All the “witnesses” who testified state that they have not seen him and do not know him, they simply learned from the media that he is “guilty” of all of that.
