Lawyers for former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan have filed legal actions in Baku, alleging that Vardanyan had been tortured and that he was denied the right to a speedy trial. 

According to Reuters, the lawsuits were filed on Thursday. Azerbaijani officials have declined to comment on the case.

Vardanyan’s lawyers told Reuters that they had filed three separate legal actions. The first related to the treatment Vardanyan received during his hunger strike in April, which they alleged constituted a form of torture. 

The second case claimed that his right to a speedy trial had been violated. Vardanyan has been in pre-trial detention since September 2023.

The last case accused Russian-language Azerbaijani newspaper the Baku Worker of defamation. The newspaper has published several articles related to Vardanyan. In one, Vardanyan was called ‘the great schemer’ after he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the same article, Baku Worker stated that ‘there is no doubt that such a “knight’s move” is being undertaken in order to try to get this oligarch-terrorist out from under investigation’.

Azerbaijan detained Vardanyan, a Russian-Armenian businessperson and billionaire, and other former high-ranking Nagorno-Karabakh officials in September 2023 as they attempted to cross the Lachin checkpoint into Armenia. They were travelling along with almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, following its surrender to Azerbaijan.

In mid-April, Vardanyan’s family reported that he had begun a hunger strike on 5 April, demanding the ‘immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian  prisoners’ held in Azerbaijan. They added that he decided to take this action following repeated requests that Azerbaijan provide him ‘a fair and transparent trial in a timely manner in line with international legal standards’.

The family also alleged that after Vardanyan went on hunger strike, he was placed in full isolation, without access to even any reading materials,’ and ‘only has his blood pressure measured’.

A statement from his lawyers alleged that as a result of his hunger strike, ‘Vardanyan was placed in a punishment cell, forced to stand, forbidden to bathe, and deprived of water for two days’.

On 25 April, Vardanyan’s family announced that they had managed to convince Vardanyan to end his hunger strike ‘in light of his deteriorating health condition’. 

In June, Vardanyan’s family announced that an urgent action complaint against the Azerbaijan Government’s use of torture and ill-treatment was submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.   

They also noted that ‘if Azerbaijan wants to be taken seriously on the international stage — and if it wants COP29 to be the ‘COP for peace’ — then it must stop mistreating Ruben and release him and the other Nagorno-Karabakh political prisoners immediately.’

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General, Kamran Aliyev, suggested that new charges had been brought against former Nagorno-Karabakh officials for the destruction of historical and cultural monuments. He also noted that the investigation had been concluded, and that the case will be presented to the court for consideration.

Ruben Vardanyan was appointed Minister of State by Nagorno-Karabakh’s then-President Arayik Harutyunyan in November 2022. 

His appointment proved controversial from the beginning, in part due to his business links in Russia. Vardanyan also gained attention and notoriety for his frequent live broadcasts from Nagorno-Karabakh during the first months of the blockade, and for repeated criticism of him by the Azerbaijani authorities. 

In February, Vardanyan was dismissed from his post by Harutyunyan, though he remained vocal in Nagorno-Karabakh’s politics