Ruben Vardanyan to Take Case Against Azerbaijan to European Court of Human Rights

Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan is preparing to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights after his legal team finally obtained the written verdict issued by an Azerbaijani military court, clearing the way for an international appeal.

Vardanyan, a philanthropist and businessman, has been held in Azerbaijani custody for nearly three years. In February, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison following a trial that Armenia and his lawyers have repeatedly condemned as politically motivated.

His attorney, international human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, said the application to the Strasbourg-based court is expected to be filed within the next few weeks.

"We are in the preparatory stage. The application will be submitted in the coming weeks," Sahakyan told RFE/RL's Armenian Service.

The appeal will argue that the charges against Vardanyan are political and unsupported by evidence of any personal criminal conduct.

"In Ruben Vardanyan's case, we will demonstrate that the accusations are political. He has never committed any individual criminal act. The collective right to self-determination has been unlawfully classified as terrorism, even though there can be no punishment without an act defined as a crime by law," Sahakyan said.

She said the situation is markedly different for the other 15 Armenians imprisoned in Azerbaijan, including Artsakh's former political and military leadership. Although their sentences were announced about eight months ago, Azerbaijani authorities have still not provided copies of the written verdicts to the detainees or their lawyers.

Without those documents, the prisoners remain unable to fully review the legal basis for their convictions, examine the evidence cited against them or pursue appeals before international courts.

Sahakyan said withholding the judgments appears to be an attempt to delay international legal proceedings. She also questioned whether the written rulings have been finalized, arguing that the trials were politically driven from the outset.

"I believe they are trying to obstruct the process of filing international complaints," she said. "We also cannot rule out the possibility that the judgments have not even been finalized, because the trial itself was fabricated and its outcome was politically predetermined. I think time is needed for the authorities to produce legal reasoning because they understand these cases are now moving to international courts."

According to Sahakyan, written verdicts are required before applications can be filed with the European Court of Human Rights. If Azerbaijan continues to withhold the documents, she said the legal team expects to obtain them through the court.

The European Court has already issued an interim measure requiring Azerbaijan to submit the verdicts for the 15 Armenian detainees by Aug. 31.

"If they fail to provide the verdicts even to the European Court, we will be dealing with a new category of human rights violations," Sahakyan said. "I believe the Azerbaijani authorities will not take that path and will at least provide the verdicts to the court."

In February, Azerbaijan's military court sentenced 16 Armenian detainees, including former leaders of Artsakh, to life imprisonment or lengthy prison terms. Armenia, the detainees' legal representatives and several international observers have raised concerns about the fairness, transparency and due process of the proceedings.

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