Taron Simonyan

Founder at ELL Partnership Law Firm, Ph.D in Law, Associate Professor at Yerevan State University

[Jared Genser @JaredGenser]

I am very grateful that #Armenia FM @AraratMirzoyan & @MFAofArmenia spoke out for the freedom of my client @RubenVardanyan_ & the other #Armenian #Christian #political #prisoners & #POWs from #Azerbaijan. This was big! There is also so much more PM @NikolPashinyan can do from here to make that happen. We pray & ask for his help and support. #freearmeniahostages

[Jared Genser @JaredGenser]

Please see this important update on my client @RubenVardanyan_’s situation. One week later, his blood pressure is up to 140/11 and he has lost six kgs (13 lbs) & the #Azerbaijan military court refused five motions to postpone the trial and insisted Ruben attend, despite his being on the verge of passing out. #HumanRights

[Ruben Vardanyan @RubenVardanyan_]

The family of Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian political prisoner, has conveyed his message to the international community after a brief phone call, in protest against the staged "judicial" process against him

February 19, 2025

“Yesterday, I have decided to protest by declaring a hunger strike against the judicial farce being carried out against me. This is my response to the blatant violations of Azerbaijani procedural law and international law. What is happening in the courtroom cannot be called a trial – this is a political show, in which my right to a fair hearing is being deliberately disregarded.

For the past month, my local lawyer – Avraam Berman and I have tried to make it clear to the court that it is critical for me that this so-called “trial” be objective rather than a staged performance.  Sadly, it has been clear from the beginning that this case is all about persecuting me as an Armenian simply for exercising my rights to freedom of opinion and expression and political participation under international law,, which have been aimed at protecting the rights of the Armenian-Christian population of Artsakh.

Despite Azerbaijan being a State Party to the European Convention on Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, this process has also been replete with egregious due process abuses:

1. I am being tried in an illegal military tribunal and not a civilian court.
2. I have not been granted full access to the indictment and so called “evidence” against me – 422 volumes in Azerbaijani, for which I was given only 21 working days to review, which have been classified as “state secrets.”
3. The "indictment" presented to me is not an official document, as it lacks the signatures of my accusers. Even the translation of this so-called document contains gross errors, making it impossible for me to understand the charges against me.
4. I have been denied my right to defense – my local lawyer, Avraam Berman, has had his access to materials restricted, his documents confiscated, and he has been subjected to psychological pressure. Further, my international legal team has been barred from communicating or visiting me and has not had access to any of the case materials
5. I have not been allowed to summon defense witnesses or file complaints regarding the violations committed during the investigation and trial.
6. All of the hearings have been secret and closed to the public.  Foreign journalists and independent international representatives have been barred from the courtroom.

This so-called ‘trial’ is not just against me. It is an attempt to criminalize all Armenians – all those who supported and demonstrated compassion toward Artsakh and its people, all those who showed compassion. This is an attack on an entire nation. I refuse to participate in this farce.

I appeal to world leaders, international organizations, human rights defenders, and members of the press:

This process demands your attention. The imitation of justice is an endorsement of lawlessness and injustice. Silence in the face of such violations paves the way for future tragedies, fueling hostility and a new wave of hatred. Only through truth, law, and humanity can peace and justice be ensured in the region”.

Ruben Vardanyan

[Yeghishe Kirakosyan @YeghisheK]

🧵1/4 On 17 November, the @CIJ_ICJ indicated provisional measures against Azerbaijan in the case concerning the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (#Armenia v. #Azerbaijan). The Court indicated:👇

[European Parliament @Europarl_EN]

Parliament has condemned Azerbaijan's pre-planned and unjustified military attack on Nagorno-Karabakh as an act of ethnic cleansing.

Read more: https://t.co/EbdMsLDGdI

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

85 years ago, after #MunichAgreement, Hitler #annexed Sudetenland. Next year the WW2 started.
Now, another leader of #Fascism, Aliev , with the help, agreement and silence of the world, annexed #Artsakh, committing the second #ArmenianGenocide.
What’s next … ?

[Artak Beglaryan | #StopArtsakhGenocide @Artak_Beglaryan]

Artsakh is almost fully empty with at most a few hundred people remaining, who are also leaving.
Are intl observers going to check how the rights & security of the animals are protected by the Aliyev genocidal regime?
With strong intl guarantees people will return to their homes.

[Artak Beglaryan | #StopArtsakhGenocide @Artak_Beglaryan]

Artsakh President’s decree on dissolving the Republic is illegal & illegitimate:
1. No President has the power to dissolve the Republic formed by the people with referendum;
2. That decree was signed as a result of Azerbaijani harsh aggression & threat of force.
It’s null & void.

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

I do not know what other atrocities must be committed to use that very word - #GENOCIDE !

#StopArmenianGenocide2023

[UN Genocide Prevention @UNOSAPG]

📍 Latest statement by @UN Under-Secretary-General & Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide @WairimuANderitu on the situation in #Armenia and #Azerbaijan, stressing importance of preventing further violence & ensuring durable peace in the region.

📰https://t.co/n5RWkioEN2

[Karnig Kerkonian @kerkonian]

STOP SAYING IT'S OVER. It's not over. It's not over at all. It's not even close to being over. Not for us; not for our people; not for our nation.

It's our children who are missing. It's our grandparents who are being slaughtered. It's our fathers and brothers who are being tortured and killed. It's our mothers who are starving, sheltering, suffering, searching. It is our people being forcefully subjugated to the will of a #genocidal Azerbaijan--a state whose leaders call us "cancers", "tumors" and "dogs", a state that telegraphs to you all that it will exterminate--sorry, "integrate"--us.

You do not get to sign off. You do not get to throw your hands up and say you "tried". You do not get to say it will be better this way for Armenia, for the region. You do not get to say this will open new doors or a new future for the Armenians. No, you don't get to do that.

You will have to watch now. You will watch it all, every day, every hour, every minute of it. We will make you watch it. We will force you to watch it. This time, we will make you watch it happen in real time. Children and churches, languages and lives, families and freedoms -- all degraded, desecrated, demeaned, destroyed.

No, it's hardly "over" for our people. We know too well--and you do too--that it's just getting started . . . .

#Artsakh #NagornoKarabagh #Armenia #genocide

[Freedom House @freedomhouse]

We strongly condemn the Azerbaijani govt’s violent attacks in Nagorno-Karabakh, heightening the risk of ethnic cleansing against the region’s Armenian population.

Any attempt to forcibly change the region's demographics is illegal & unacceptable. (1/2)
https://t.co/LYgSoGNGOe

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

Another #aggression by terrorist state of #Azerbaijan against the people of #Artsakh.
Another #genocide is taking place.
Unfortunately, the world is still silent…

#stopAzerbaijaniaggression
#stopthegenocide

[Tigran Balayan @tbalayan]

The genocidal Aliyev regime is bombing civilians to complete the criminal #EthnicCleansing campaign of indigenous population of Nagorno-Karabakh. #StopAliyev to save the regional peace.

[MFA of Artsakh @mfankr]

Azerbaijan launched large-scale military offensive against the Republic of #Artsakh. At this moment the capital Stepanakert and other cities and villages are under heavy shelling

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

RT @edmarukyan: Naturally, Azerbaijan is committing another war crime by killing peaceful and unprotected people in an addition to blockade…

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

Is Nagorno-Karabakh the New Darfur?

https://t.co/S264o1gH5m

[Yeghishe Kirakosyan @YeghisheK]

Just submitted the Preliminary Objections of the Republic of Armenia in the case concerning the application of the #ICERD (Azerbaijan v. Armenia) at the #ICJ

[Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention @LemkinInstitute]

The @LemkinInstitute has issued a statement on #Azerbaijan 's unwillingness to comply with the order to lift the ongoing blockade of #Artsakh issued by the @CIJ_ICJ and the int'l community’s lack of proper enforcement mechanism to fulfill ICJ's orders.
https://t.co/cGXzkBG58W

[Taron Simonyan @TaronSimonyan]

If we do not stand for the common heritage and the principles of #justice, #law, #freedom, the same values #Artsakh is fighting for, than what kind of heritage of common sense do we base on the #European, #Russian, #American or #International foundations of humanity?