A military court in Baku found Vardanyan guilty of a long list of crimes, including “financing terrorism,” in what his family in Armenia called a “judgment against the Armenian people as a whole.”
“From the moment of his arbitrary detention 874 days ago, it became evident that the outcome of this process had been predetermined,” read a statement released by the family.
“Throughout this period, Ruben was denied fundamental guarantees of due process, including meaningful access to legal defense, contact with his international counsel, and the ability of independent media to attend the proceedings,” it said. “The hearings were held behind closed doors and in conditions incompatible with the standards of a fair trial under international law and even Azerbaijani laws.”
Vardanyan, who held the second-highest post in Karabakh’s leadership from November 2022 to February 2023, was arrested at an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor in September 2023 as he fled the region along with its practically entire ethnic Armenian population.
Former political and military leaders of Nagorno Karabakh stand trial Baku, November 4, 2025.
Seven other former Karabakh Armenian leaders were also arrested during the exodus that followed an Azerbaijani military offensive. Five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and the two others received 20-year jail sentences on February 5 following a separate trial. Like Vardanyan, they denied similar charges brought against them.
Throughout his trial, Vardanyan remained defiant both in the courtroom and in statements periodically communicated to his family members by phone. In his most recent statement circulated last week, he said that “what is happening is not a trial but a judicial farce” and that he is “not afraid of any punishment.”
The 57-year-old billionaire also stressed: “I have said to the court and repeated it three times when they attempted to stop me from saying: Artsakh was, Artsakh is, and Artsakh will continued to exist.”
The Armenian government has still not officially commented on the jail terms given to the former Karabakh leaders, stoking opposition allegations about its complicity in the continuing captivity of these and 11 other Armenians held in Azerbaijan. The government claims to be doing its best to try to secure their release. Vardanyan’s American lawyer, Jared Genser, repeatedly disputed these claims last year.
Ruben Vardanyan meets with residents of Stepanakert, January 24, 2023.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev rejected at the weekend calls for the release of the former Karabakh leaders, comparing them to Nazi Germany’s leaders. He said that their trials were “absolutely transparent.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was accused by his domestic critics of helping Baku legitimize Vardanyan’s continuing imprisonment with his scathing comments about the tycoon made in August 2024. Pashinian seemed to echo Aliyev’s claims that he was dispatched to Karabakh by Moscow to serve Russian interests there. The tycoon, who had made his fortune in Russia, hit back at Pashinian in a September 2024 statement. He subsequently also criticized Pashinian’s appeasement policy towards Azerbaijan and accused him of spreading hate speech against the Karabakh Armenians.
In what some observers see as a related development, the pro-government mayor of the Armenian resort town of Dilijan took last year legal action against Vardanyan’s charity that has invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure. The mayor is seeking court permission to terminate long-term lease agreements signed with the charity a decade ago, accusing it of not honoring its contractual obligations. Vardanyan’s wife, Veronika Zonabend, has rejected the accusation.
