Azerbaijan continues sham trial of Ruben Vardanyan

An Azeri court on Thursday resumed the trial of former Nagorno-Karabakh official Ruben Vardanyan in what has been widely described as a sham trial. 

Vardanyan’s case is examined separately from the other jailed former Karabakh officials who include ex-presidents and military commanders facing fabricated war crime charges.

Vardanyan, the former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, 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. The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo recently once again slammed the charges as bogus, emphasizing that Baku is using the show trials to cover up its crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh.