Azerbaijani courts have sentenced Ruben Vardanyan to 20 years in prison in a sham trial in Baku following Azerbaijan’s 2023 military attack on Artsakh.
Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani authorities in September 2023 while attempting to leave Artsakh amid the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population and was taken into custody by Azerbaijan. He was later prosecuted under politically constructed charges in a trial that failed to meet basic fair-trial standards.
Earlier this month, other former Artsakh officials and civilians received prison terms ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment in related sham trials.
Vardanyan is a former State Minister of Artsakh and an Armenian philanthropist and entrepreneur internationally known as a co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, a global platform recognizing individuals who risk their lives to save others in crisis zones. He has been a principal supporter of major educational and development institutions, including UWC Dilijan College in Armenia, and has funded humanitarian, cultural, and infrastructure initiatives in Armenia and Artsakh for more than a decade.
