Photo from the archive. The military court in Baku sentenced Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison
The 57-year-old politician previously worked as a Russian billionaire and renounced his Russian citizenship to take the position of head of the government of Nagorno-Karabakh.
After the war, in which the Armenian side was defeated, Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani security forces. The prosecutor requested a life sentence for him. The charges against him include financing terrorism, creating illegal armed formations, and illegally crossing the border of Azerbaijan on more than 40 counts.
Earlier, the former president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Araik Arutyunyan, who held this position from 2020 until August 2023, was also sentenced to life imprisonment.
For reference, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan announced the start of "local anti-terrorist activities" in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result, on September 20, the authorities of the region effectively capitulated, agreeing to a ceasefire and disarmament.
On September 28, Samvel Shahramanyan, the head of Nagorno-Karabakh, signed a decree on the termination of the existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as of January 1, 2024.
Thus, the process of peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan developed against the backdrop of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in 2023 when Baku restored its control over the region.
