- January 17, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Sham, secret trials begin today in a Baku Military Court of Ruben Vardanyan and 17 other Christian Armenian hostages. Vardanyan has been illegally held in custody for 470 days, 340 of which have been in solitary confinement, and is facing 44 fabricated charges.
The 23 Armenian hostages currently held in Azerbaijani jails are victims of an ongoing genocide, not terrorists. These individuals have been falsely accused and labeled as terrorists to delegitimize their suffering and deflect international attention from Azerbaijan’s deliberate policy of erasing Armenian presence and heritage in the region. Far from being combatants or threats, they are civilians and democratically elected leaders who were targeted precisely because of their Armenian identity. Seven of the hostages have already been “sentenced” to a combined 120 years in Azerbaijani prisons.
Vardanyan issued a statement yesterday: “I reiterate my complete innocence and the innocence of my compatriots and demand the immediate cessation of this politicized case against us.”
“Global ARM strongly denounces Azerbaijan’s ongoing use of sham trials targeting ethnic Armenian hostages who are unlawfully detained in its repressive regime,” stated Global ARM President Timothy Jemal. “Azerbaijan’s actions—ranging from the illegal detention of Armenians and the occupation of sovereign Armenian territory to its alignment with Vladimir Putin and threats of further aggression against Armenia—undermine the prospects for a durable and just peace in the South Caucasus.”
Vardanyan is a businessman and philanthropist who served as State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from November 2022 to February 2023. On September 29, 2023, after Azerbaijan’s military offensive ethnically cleansed more than 120,000 Armenians from their Nagorno-Karabakh homeland, Vardanyan was unlawfully detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service and transported to prison in Baku. He is one of eight former officials from Nagorno-Karabakh who remain illegally detained in Azerbaijan.
The Center for Truth & Justice (CFTJ) has requested that Azerbaijan allow international legal experts to observe the trials. CFTJ’s request for access remains unanswered.
Freedom House ranks Azerbaijan among the most repressive countries in the world. According to Freedom House, “Constitutional guarantees of due process are not upheld. Arbitrary arrest and detention are common, and detainees are often held for long periods before trial. Political detainees have reported restricted access to legal counsel, fabrication and withholding of evidence, and physical abuse to extract confessions.”
About Global ARM: Global ARM is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization formed in 2022 to implement smarter, stronger and more effective Pro-Armenia, Pro-Artsakh advocacy in Washington, D.C. Global ARM is non-partisan and not aligned with any political party or government inside or outside of Armenia.