Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenia and former minister of state of the autonomous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, is under arrest and detained by Azerbaijan, where he is undergoing a “show trial,” the essayist writes. A UN human-rights group, however, has ruled that his case is not an arbitrary detention, despite the chair appearing to have a conflict of interest in the matter. AZERTACFew people outside the orbit of practitioners and scholars of international human rights law have heard of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, or
WGAD. Yet, this organ of the Human Rights Council, established in 1991, is the ultimate authority on the arbitrary detention or deprivation of liberty of individuals by states — a critical component of international human rights law. Its rulings on cases submitted for review are adopted as legal opinions.
While these do not determine prosecution results by national courts, they provide an authoritative assessment to states’ cases against individuals held in detention, so they can have a significant effect on decisions by national judiciaries.
On Nov. 11, 2024, WGAD issued its opinion on the arrest and detention of Ruben Vardanyan, a national of Armenia, by Azerbaijan in its capital, Baku. It determined that Vardanyan’s “case is not one of arbitrary detention.” The WGAD assessment is shocking, as even a cursory reading shows that it reproduces, almost verbatim, the response submitted to WGAD by the government of Azerbaijan. Information regarding one expert in on the working group suggests that this travesty of justice is no coincidence.
Ganna Yudkivska, a Ukrainian lawyer and the current WGAD chair-rapporteur, is one of five independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council for a maximum of six years. Her term began in 2022. She is also a partner in a Ukrainian law firm, Equity, which was hired by Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) to represent it in a commercial litigation case in Ukraine.
To encapsulate, a key WGAD expert entrusted with reviewing and assessing the detention of Vardanyan by Azerbaijan is a partner in a law firm hired by the same state to represent it in a commercial dispute. This blatant conflict of interest is even more egregious, given the potential impact of WGAD’s opinion on the outcome of Azerbaijan’s prosecution of Vardanyan.
From November 2022 to February 2023, Vardanyan was the minister of state of the Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Previously, he was better known as a banker, social entrepreneur, philanthropist and outspoken advocate for the rights of the ethnic Armenian population living in Nagorno-Karabakh, including their right to self-determination. He is one of 23 ethnic Armenian civilians, including former elected officials, who were detained by Azerbaijan in September 2023 while they attempted to cross into Armenia after Azerbaijan’s final military assault on the autonomous enclave.
Populated by majority ethnic Armenians for over millennia, Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Soviet Azerbaijan in 1991, before the collapse of the Soviet Union that year. The ensuing brutal war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region ended with a ceasefire in 1994, but Nagorno-Karabakh remained a disputed territory, declaring itself self-governed. The war reignited in 2020 when Azerbaijan carried out a surprise wide-scale attack against the region, followed by a decisive offensive in 2023.
That offensive was preceded by a brutal nine-month starvation siege by Azerbaijan, violating two rulings by the International Court of Justice to lift the blockade. The expulsion of the 120,000 Armenians from the enclave to Armenia in over two weeks in September 2023 emptied the region of its Armenian Indigenous population.
Azerbaijan’s show trials of Vardanyan and other Armenian political prisoners, which would put even Stalin’s 1930s show trials to shame, began in January 2025. This was about two months after WGAD adopted its opinion and 19 months after the Armenians were arrested and imprisoned in Baku. Vardanyan has been on two extended hunger strikes, in April 2024 and in February 2025, to protest both the bogus charges against him — including the charge of terrorism — and the kangaroo court conducting the proceedings. His protests were met with more punitive measures by Azerbaijan’s authorities.
Vardanyan and the other Armenian political prisoners are being tried behind closed doors by the Baku Military Court, flagrantly violating international law, which prohibits the trial of civilians by military tribunals. They are denied basic rights stipulated under international law to ensure a fair trial, including a lawyer of their choice, an open trial and the ability to communicate with the outside world and family members. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only access allowed to the Armenian prisoners other than the Military Court officials in Baku, was expelled from Azerbaijan in March 2025.
Vardanyan’s trial has been separated from the rest of the 23 Armenian political prisoners’ hearings, including the former elected officials of Karabakh. The Military Court has led more than 30 secret hearings in Vardanyan’s case so far.
On March 13, 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution “on the unlawful detention and sham trials of Armenian hostages, including high-ranking political representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijan.” The resolution condemned “the unjust detention of Armenian hostages and demanded “their immediate and unconditional release.”
Azerbaijan’s appalling record of human rights abuses are well documented and condemned repeatedly by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Council and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as by numerous European countries, Canada and the United States.
It is difficult to accept that WGAD experts were unfamiliar with these realities when forming their November 2024 opinion on Vardanyan’s detention by Azerbaijan. Less certain is whether the Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights or the other members of WGAD were aware of the glaring conflict of interest of Yudkivska in the Vardanyan case.
With these facts established and if justice is to be served, Yudkivska should be formally censured for not disclosing her conflict of interest. Equally important, WGAD should publicly rescind its November 2024 opinion and urgently commission a new review on Vardanyan’s arbitrary detention by Azerbaijan from which Yudkivska should be recused.
Azerbaijan is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The right to a fair trial and equality before the law is one of the covenant’s fundamental principles. Azerbaijan should be held accountable to ensure it complies fully with its obligations. The secret trials of Vardanyan and the other Armenian political prisoners are being conducted in gross violation of Azerbaijan’s obligations.
