Silva Kechichian

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

Ruben Vardanyan's Lawyer Takes His Case to Europe's Top Human Rights Court, Appealing 20-Year Sentence & Citing Eight Convention Violations
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Ruben Vardanyan's lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), appealing her client's 20-year prison sentence from the Baku Military Court, after he was unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan for about 22 months, citing violations of eight articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The application also reveals that the verdict rested on a finding that Vardanyan joined a so-called Artsakh "criminal community" in December 2020, at a time when he was living in Moscow.

Vardanyan, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist who renounced his Russian citizenship before moving to Artsakh in 2022, has been unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan since September 2023, and served as the State Minister of occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the second-highest post in the region's leadership, from November 2022 to February 2023.

The application was filed on July 19 in Strasbourg by Sahakyan, president of the International and Comparative Law Center and legal representative of Armenian hostages before the European Court of Human Rights, on behalf of Vardanyan, who is currently held at the Umbaki Penitentiary Complex in Azerbaijan. She announced the filing in a statement released Wednesday, saying she will represent Vardanyan's interests before the court and that the application is supported by comprehensive legal and factual arguments.

The move follows Vardanyan's decision not to appeal his sentence within the Azerbaijani judicial system, which he and his legal team have characterized as a staged and predetermined show trial in which domestic remedies are ineffective. It is impossible to protect one's rights within a system that inherently denies the right to a fair trial, Sahakyan said, adding that Vardanyan had chosen to seek justice through international legal mechanisms instead.

The Baku Military Court sentenced Vardanyan to 20 years in prison on February 17, 2026, on trumped-up charges of terrorism, financing armed groups, and other fabricated crimes, in a proceeding held separately from the mass trial of fifteen other former Artsakh leaders. According to Sahakyan, the court did not read the judgment in its entirety during the hearing. The full text was later obtained through Vardanyan's family, at which point it became clear that he had been found "guilty" on 41 counts under 21 articles of Azerbaijan's Criminal Code.

The findings inside that verdict are what have now been made public for the first time, and they read as a case built to fit a political conclusion rather than as a legal document grounded in evidence. According to Sahakyan, the court did not substantiate Vardanyan's individual guilt with facts or evidence in the verdict. Instead, it concluded that the administration of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh constituted a "criminal community" that had operated in Artsakh since 1988, and asserted that Vardanyan joined this "community" in December 2020, though he had no operational role in Artsakh at the time.

The court's other interpretations follow the same pattern. Vardanyan's assumption of a civilian administrative post in Artsakh was characterized as a violent seizure of power. His decades of internationally recognized commercial and philanthropic work, including the founding of the UWC Dilijan College and the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, were reframed as illegal entrepreneurship and financing of terrorism. His entry into Artsakh through the Lachin Corridor, then the only route open to Armenians accessing their homeland during the Azerbaijani blockade, was treated as an illegal crossing of Azerbaijan's state border.

Vardanyan is the first among the senior Artsakh officials sentenced by Baku to bring his case to the European Court of Human Rights. Sahakyan told RFE/RL earlier this month that Azerbaijani authorities had finally provided Vardanyan's legal team with the full text of his verdict, making the appeal possible, while remaining reluctant to provide the same to the legal teams of the seven other former Artsakh leaders serving sentences of 20 years to life. Former parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan has publicly said his own defense team has still not received the complete verdict or indictment despite repeated requests.

The European Court of Human Rights application is the latest development in a series of moves aimed at pressing Vardanyan's case internationally. His wife, Veronika Zonabend, on July 8 sent open letters to Azerbaijan's Human Rights Commissioner, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas to advance a women's humanitarian delegation to Baku aimed at restoring contact between the Armenian hostages and their families. Vardanyan himself has issued a series of statements from his prison cell in Baku since the February verdict, including a May 25 birthday address in which he accused the Armenian government of failing to organize any coherent mechanism on behalf of the hostages. Ishkhanyan has gone further, publicly accusing Pashinyan's government of not wanting Baku to free the hostages at all.

Vardanyan is one of 19 Armenian hostages currently held in Azerbaijan, seized in September 2023 when, following a nine-month blockade and a military assault on occupied Artsakh, Azerbaijani forces detained members of the region's former military and political leadership in the days surrounding the ethnic cleansing that forced the entire Armenian population from their homeland. Five former Artsakh leaders are serving life sentences: former President Arayik Harutyunyan, former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, former National Assembly Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, former Defense Army commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, and former deputy commander Davit Manukyan. Former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan received 20-year terms alongside Vardanyan. Other officials and civilians received prison terms ranging from 15 to 19 years. Amnesty International condemned the verdicts as a travesty and a mockery of justice.

[Asbarez News @Asbarez]

We Are Gyumri marked a historic milestone, celebrating both the 10th anniversary of the Shirvanian Youth Center and the selection of its 100th Mina Shirvanian Nominal Scholarship recipient.

[Silva Kechichian @titahaign]

@ANCA_WR Go Astine

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

Davit Manukyan, a defender of the Artsakh Republic, now endures torture and mistreatment in a sham trial in Azerbaijan. His only “crime” was upholding his people’s right to self-determination. The world must not turn a blind eye to this injustice.

Read the full press release on:
https://t.co/Lh1QOooiD7

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

I often hear folks say, “Donald Trump sent me a check during the pandemic.”

I want to make sure you understand this: Congress sent you a check. By the way, Joe Biden also sent you a check during the pandemic, just like I gave people relief during the Great Recession. The difference is that we didn’t put our names on it – because it wasn’t about feeding our egos or advancing our politics, it was about helping people.

So don’t be giving him credit for that. And don’t give him your vote, either. There’s only one candidate in this election who cares about you, and that’s Kamala Harris.

[Democratic Wins Media @DemocraticWins]

BREAKING: Michelle Obama just laid into Donald Trump like no one has before. Retweet to make sure all Americans see this takedown

[Silva Kechichian @titahaign]

@ZartonkMedia Congratulations 🎈

[Democratic Wins Media @DemocraticWins]

BREAKING: Watch the exact moment Fox News reveals to their audience that Vice President Kamala Harris has completely eliminated Donald Trump’s lead in the polls. This has the Trump campaign in pure panic. Retweet so all Americans see this.

[Luis Moreno Ocampo @MorenoOcampo1]

Let's unite and amplify our voices at #COP29. Together, we can expose the hypocrisy and demand justice for Nagorno-Karabakh detainees. #StopGreenwashGenocide #FreePoliticalPrisoners #FreeArmenianHostages

[Silva Kechichian @titahaign]

@SpeakerPelosi Rest in Peace

[SEIU 721 @SEIU721]

We’re springing into our power! 🌟

DPSS workers from across LA County are uniting for the SEIU 721 DPSS Spring Summit today to connect with fellow workers, expand knowledge, and strengthen our collective voice! #UnionStrong

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

Amendment 568 – (Rep. Schiff) – calls on Azerbaijan to immediately return all Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians.

Contact your Congressional Representative today to secure their support by visiting https://t.co/5pPfqAa51Z.

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

Turkey is no partner for peace.

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

One nation, one state, TWO CRIMINALS

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

The cycle continues…

#ArmenianGenocide

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

A Genocide unpunished is a Genocide repeated— from 1915 to 2023.

#ArmenianGenocide #ArtsakhGenocide

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

Visit https://t.co/taf7KaK2jS to urge your Senators & Representatives to co-sponsor bills S.2900 & H.R.5683, which seek to:

- Implement stringent sanctions against Azerbaijan and the Aliyev regime

- Revoke the Presidential Waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act

- Provide vital humanitarian aid to the displaced Armenians of Artsakh

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

https://t.co/ZFR8EQV8cw

Ask your Senators to co-sponsor the bipartisan S.Res.540 introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), which would require a comprehensive report on the human rights abuses of Azerbaijan.

S.Res.540 is a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) that calls for a Section 502B(C) investigation into the human rights violations and war crimes committed by Azerbaijan.

The need for its immediate adoption has become increasingly urgent following Azerbaijan's illegal blockade, unprovoked assaults, and systematic ethnic cleansing of the 100,000-plus indigenous Armenian population in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). Unfortunately, this belligerent behavior by the Aliyev regime was made possible with over $164,000,000 in military support from the U.S., facilitated through presidential waivers of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act by both the Trump and Biden Administrations. Now, Azerbaijan has set its sights on the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia.

Implementing statutory oversight of the U.S.'s security assistance to Azerbaijan via 502B(C) would establish a much-needed standard for enforcing human rights conditions and revive Congressional supervision over U.S. security assistance. This step would limit further acts of aggression by Azerbaijan and send a clear message to other recipients of U.S. security assistance that the U.S. will not ignore violations of human rights abuses.

[ANCA Western Region @ANCA_WR]

Without justice, there is no peace.

On this day in 1921, Armenian Genocide survivor & revolutionary Soghomon Tehlirian assassinated Talaat Pasha, one of the main architects of the Armenian Genocide.

"I do not consider myself guilty because my conscience is clear. I have killed a man, but I am not a murderer."

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

Today is the day of remembrance for the first chairman of the Supreme Council of Artskah, Artur Mkrtchyan.