Ocampo Exposes UN Judge’s Ties to Azerbaijan: Conflict of Interest Undermines UN Decision on Ruben Vardanyan’s Case

A new investigation by the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has revealed a serious conflict of interest inside the United Nations system, raising serious doubts about the fairness of a ruling concerning Armenian political prisoner Ruben Vardanyan.

Ocampo’s report exposed that the chairperson of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), Ukrainian jurist Ganna Yudkivska, has deep business and personal ties to Azerbaijan — the very country holding Vardanyan in illegal detention. This connection directly compromises the legitimacy of the WGAD’s February 2025 opinion, which claimed that Azerbaijan’s imprisonment of Vardanyan was “not arbitrary.”

The investigation shows that Yudkivska is a partner at a Ukrainian law firm representing the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR. Her husband, former Ukrainian MP Georgii Logvynskyi, is of Azerbaijani origin and has publicly voiced support for Baku’s aggressive policies toward Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). These undisclosed ties violate multiple UN ethics rules that demand independence, impartiality, and the avoidance of any real or perceived conflict of interest.

“These facts constitute serious violations of UN rules. Ganna Yudkivska’s professional, financial, and family ties with Azerbaijan have compromised her impartiality. Someone with close connections to the authorities in Baku should not have judged any case related to the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” stated Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Ocampo’s findings shows a deeper issue: Azerbaijan has not only committed grave human rights abuses against the Armenian people of Artsakh but also appears to manipulate international structures to protect its actions. The WGAD decision stands in stark contrast to a March 2025 statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who demanded the immediate release of all Armenians arbitrarily detained in Azerbaijan.

Ruben Vardanyan — a respected businessman, philanthropist, and former State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh — was captured by Azerbaijani forces on September 27, 2023, as he tried to flee to Armenia following Baku’s brutal military attack that forcibly emptied Artsakh of its entire indigenous Armenian population. Since then, he and 22 other Armenian detainees, including civilians and former officials, have been subjected to fabricated charges, inhumane treatment, and denial of access to international observers. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross has been blocked from visiting them.

Vardanyan’s lawyers are now preparing to challenge the tainted UN opinion, demanding that Yudkivska be recused and that a fair review take place. Other legal experts are drafting new complaints to UN bodies, insisting on accountability for Azerbaijan’s violations of international law and the continued unlawful detention of Armenian prisoners.

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