Ruben Vardanyan calls out “outright farce” as Azerbaijani court appoints new attorney

A court in Baku continues the trial of former Karabakh-Armenian politician Ruben Vardanyan in what has been widely described as a sham trial.

During the court hearing on October 28, Judge Zeynal Aghayev announced that Ruben Vardanyan’s new defense attorney is Emil Babishov, a member of the Azerbaijan Bar Association.

Vardanyan had earlier dismissed his attorney, Avraam Berman, citing violation of his right to due process.

According to Azerbaijani media reports Vardanyan has not objected to the appointment of the new attorney.

Below is a statement released by Vardanyan through his family on the reasons of dismissing his attorney.

“During the court hearing on October 21, I announced my decision to dismiss my attorney, Avraam Berman. This was a forced decision. The blatant violations of international and Azerbaijani legal standards throughout the ongoing proceedings have turned the hearings into an outright farce. Under these circumstances, all procedural opportunities for the defense have been exhausted over the past months.

I was not allowed to review the case materials or the indictment. Access to the case materials continues to be denied: I still have not been given the opportunity to review the 422 volumes of my case file, and the court has failed to provide official translations of key procedural documents.
I was deprived of the opportunity to defend myself in court. I was unable to exchange documents with my attorney freely and without prior inspection in preparation for hearings, and I was denied access to audio and video evidence.
Over dozens of hearings, my counsel and I filed more than 60 motions and applications to the Baku Military Court to challenge egregious abuses of my due process rights. Yet none of the critical motions were approved. At the same time, more than 60% of these motions were simply ignored by the Court. Yet under Azerbaijani law, the Court is required to consider all such motions “without delay,” and act upon, either by granting them or rejecting them, “no later than 3 (three days) after receipt” by the Court.
Another reason for my decision to dismiss my attorney, as a form of protest against this staged secret and closed military tribunal, was the court’s refusal to summon witnesses who could clarify the circumstances of the case and confirm facts crucial to the defense. The court’s rejection of this motion deprived the process of any remaining semblance of objectivity and fairness.

As time has passed, the situation has only worsened. In this theater of the absurd, the role of the attorney – regardless of his will or efforts – has been reduced to maintaining the illusion of legality in the proceedings. I refuse to take part in this farce. I do not need the illusion of defense – I demand the actual observance of my procedural rights,” Vardanyan said.

When the entire Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh fled to Armenia during the 2023 September Azerbaijani offensive, a number of high-ranking then-incumbent and former statesmen and officials were detained and charged with what has been widely described as fabricated charges, including terrorism. The detainees and POWs include ex-presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, then-Speaker of Parliament Davit Ishkhanyan, former FM Davit Babayan, former Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan, as well as former State Minister, entrepreneur and Aurora Humanitarian Initiative co-founder Ruben Vardanyan. 

Vardanyan’s case has been separated from the others by the Azerbaijani court.

Vardanyan has vehemently denied all charges against him which include “financing terrorism” and “illegally entering” Karabakh. Vardanyan, as well as many experts, have described the charges as falsifications.