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In an unprecedented escalation of its ongoing crackdown on dissent, Azerbaijan prosecutors have unveiled a new and enormous array of some 45 potential charges against Armenian humanitarian and political prisoner Ruben Vardanyan, according to his legal team. If convicted, Vardanyan faces the grim prospect of life imprisonment. The development comes just one month after the country controversially hosted the COP29 climate summit, where its abysmal human rights record drew sharp international criticism.

The new charges presented against Ruben Vardanyan fall under 20 different articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code. Illustrating the extent to which the regime is desperate to justify its ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh and illegal imprisonment of its former leaders, the fabricated evidence is presented in more than 25,000 pages across 100 volumes, all written in Azeri.

The alleged evidence is conveniently hidden both from Ruben and public view based on claims the charges relate to the “national security of Azerbaijan”. The regime has, at the same time, refused to provide copies of the alleged evidence to Vardanyan and counsel, who are currently only allowed to review these materials without a proper translation and at limited times. Their ability to take notes is also restricted due to “national security,” further constraining Ruben and his counsel’s extremely limited ability to prepare the defense for the trial.

“These charges represent a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s obligations under international law” said Vardanyan’s legal counsel, Jared Genser. “The laundry list of charges—a transparently brazen attempt to blame everything that the Azeri regime did in Nagorno-Karabakh on Ruben—in addition to Azerbaijan’s refusal to provide and make public all of the charges and so-called evidence against Ruben for review, reaffirms that the charges are politically motivated and that the regime knows no objective observer would conclude there is any credible evidence to support its allegations. This approach is clearly designed for Aliyev to justify holding a secret trial before a tribunal that will be neither independent nor impartial.”

Warning that the new charges signal an intensifying campaign by Aliyev to silence dissenting voices, the family of Ruben Vardanyan are calling on the democratic world to show that such flagrant violations cannot be tolerated anymore and to ensure international organizations and media are present during the trial.

“The most recent charges against my father, are a travesty of justice and retribution for the failures of COP29 upon an innocent scapegoat,” said David Vardanyan, son of Ruben Vardanyan. “Ruben Vardanyan was the State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh for three months, where he sought to improve the livelihoods of its citizens through meaningful social programs. Sadly, he was rewarded with the threat of life imprisonment by one of the most corrupt regimes on earth. His arrest and these new fallacious charges are a symbol to all Armenians around the world that no one is safe. It has been over two years since our family has been able to see Ruben. We are afraid that we might not be able to see him again if the democratic world does not act to put an end to this non-sense.”

While Vardanyan has already spent more than a year in illegal detention under Azerbaijan’s regime, this latest escalation marks a troubling new low in President Ilham Aliyev’s authoritarian rule. Freedom House currently gives Azerbaijan a “global freedom score” of seven out of one hundred, placing it behind countries such as Somalia, Myanmar, and Venezuela in measures of political and civil liberties. These latest developments underscore the systemic erosion of fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan and highlight the regime’s ongoing efforts to silence dissent and consolidate power.

Last September, armed forces of the Government of Azerbaijan invaded the Armenian autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, driving out the 120,000 Armenian Christians of the region. During the flight of the refugees, Vardanyan and seven other former officials were arrested and face spurious and politically motivated charges.

A former State Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from November 2022 to February 2023, Vardanyan has been imprisoned in Baku in conditions violating international law. His political show trial—which has already been delayed on several occasions—is expected to fall far short of many international standards.