Victims testify in Armenian citizen Ruben Vardanyan’s trial, call for maximum sentence

The trial of Armenian citizen Ruben Vardanyan continued today at the Baku Military Court, where victims of his alleged crimes took the stand to testify, urging the court to impose the harshest possible sentence on the accused. Vardanyan faces multiple charges including torture, mercenarism, violations of the laws and customs of war, terrorism, financing terrorism, and other articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code.

The open hearings were presided over by Judge Zeynal Aghayev, and a panel of judges consisting of Anar Rzayev and Jamal Ramazanov (reserve judge Gunel Samadova). The accused was provided with an interpreter in the language of his choice, i.e. Russian, as well as lawyers for his defense, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

At the start of the hearing, Vardanyan's lawyer, Avraham Berman, requested the opportunity to review the minutes of previous proceedings and the accompanying audio recordings. The prosecution raised no objections to this request. Judge Zeynal Aghayev granted the request, allowing both the defendant and his defense counsel to reacquaint themselves with the records of the court hearings.

Following this, victims of the alleged crimes took the stand to testify. Among the witnesses were Rahib Fataliyev, Sakhavat Rajabov, Farid Mammadov, Sanan Mirzaliyev, Samir Malikov, Jeyhun Khankishiyev, Alasgar Jafarov, Safa Mammadov, Alish Shamiyev, Eldar Huseynov, and Elvin Taghiyev. They recounted their experiences during military service in the Kalbajar and Khojaly districts, which were previously occupied by Armenia. The victims reported suffering various degrees of injury due to shelling and grenade explosions during Armenian military provocations.

All of the victims requested the court to impose the harshest possible sentence on Ruben Vardanyan. During the testimony, the victims responded to questions from state prosecutors regarding their places of service, the specific locations of the military provocations, and the severity and impact of their injuries.

The conclusions of the forensic medical examination for the victims who testified in the court session on March 11 were also presented.

The next court hearing is scheduled for April 1.

To recap, Ruben Vardanyan is charged with crimes under Articles 100.1, 100.2 (planning, preparing, initiating and waging a war of aggression), 107 (deportation and forced displacement of the population), 109 (persecution), 110 (forcible disappearance of persons), 112 (deprivation of liberty contrary to international law), 113 (torture), 114.1 (mercenary activity), 115.2 (violation of the laws and customs of warfare), 116.0.1, 116.0.2, 116.0.10, 116.0.11, 116.0.16, 116.0.18 (violation of international humanitarian law during armed conflict), 120.2.1, 120.2.3, 120.2.4, 120.2.7, 120.2.11, 120.2.12 (intentional murder), 29,120.2.1, 29,120.2.3, 29,120.2.4, 29,120.2.7, 29,120.2.11, 29,120.2.12 (attempted intentional murder), 192.3.1 (illegal entrepreneurship), 214.2.1, 214.2.3, 214.2.4 (terrorism), 214-1 (financing of terrorism), 218.1, 218.2 (creation of a criminal group), 228.3 (illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation and possession of firearms, their components, ammunition, explosives and devices), 270-1.2, 270-1.4 (acts threatening aviation safety), 278.1 (forcible seizure or retention of power, forcible change of the constitutional structure of the state), 279.1, 279.2, 279.3 (creation of armed formations or groups not provided for by law) and 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan).

By Vafa Guliyeva