Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh reportedly testify against Ruben Vardanyan

Two out of a handful of Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh have testified during the latest trial of the region’s former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, reportedly accusing him of sponsoring the planting of mines in Nagorno-Karabakh, recruiting mercenaries, and establishing military warehouses. The two Armenians previously appeared in Azerbaijani propaganda videos.

During Tuesday’s court hearing, Vardanyan appeared even more emaciated, following his hunger strike launched on 18 February against the ongoing trial.

Vardanyan reportedly refused to answer the questions asked by the prosecutor about the planting of mines in Nagorno-Karabakh, ‘transporting weapons [...] from various places, including Armenia’ and ‘the participation, support, approval, and permission of the Armenian state’, and more.

There are no independent or international media outlets or organisations present during the trial.

One of the witnesses, Kamo Hayrapetyan, reportedly said that Vardanyan ‘was sponsoring and financing groups of people aged 45-50 to fight against Azerbaijan’.

Hayrapetyan additionally accused Vardanyan of financing ‘mine-planting operations’ near the line of contact with the territories that came under Azerbaijani control during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and that the planting of mines ‘had gained momentum after’ Vardanyan went to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Further testimony from Hayrapetyan stated that with the support of Vardanyan’s funding, three military warehouses — allegedly two around Stepanakert  (Khankendi) and one in Askeran (Asgaran) — were created, allegedly to store weaponry and UAVs which ‘Ruben had brought to Karabakh’.

‘After Ruben Vardanyan’s arrival, hostility towards Azerbaijan among the Armenian residents intensified’, Azertac wrote, quoting Hayrapetyan, hinting that prior to his arrival to Nagorno-Karabakh, ‘many were seriously thinking about living within Azerbaijan and obtaining citizenship’.

The second Armenian national to serve as a witness in Vardanyan’s case was Musheg Grigoryan, who reportedly claimed that Vardanyan gathered ‘groups of mercenary fighters’, who were later ‘recruited for military training in a camp located in [the] Khojaly district’.

‘I don’t understand Vardanyan. If you want to do good for your people, why do you buy weapons, plant mines, give people money, and open [training] camps? If weapons are a good thing, then buy them and take them home, so that your children can fight as well. Vardanyan thought that he was doing good for the people of Karabakh, but he actually destroyed their fates’, Grigoryan said, according to Azertac.

The other witnesses included Azerbaijanis who were either ‘injured after stepping on a landmine’ or ‘during military service in Kalbajar’, who asked for ‘the most severe punishment’ against Vardanyan.

On Thursday, in a second voice message sent through his family, Vardanyan talked about the two Armenians who had testified, saying that they  ‘claim[ed] various very incorrect things’.

‘And yet, they had never seen me in their lives, and they were in a very terrible state themselves, but nevertheless they appeared in court, and I felt very sorry for them’.

He also said that he had ended his hunger strike on its ‘twenty-third day’.

Who are the Armenian witnesses?

Both Hayrapetyan and Grigoryan stayed in Nagorno-Karabakh after the en masse displacement of Armenians in September 2023 following the final Azerbaijani offensive into the region, which led to them ‘becoming a mouthpiece for Baku’s statements’, CivilNet wrote.

CivilNet’s fact-checking team revealed that Hayrapetyan, the first witness, told the German media outlet TAZ that he was born in Baku in 1960 and lived there until 1988, when he and his family were forced to leave the city due to mass anti-Armenian violence. Following this, he took part in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and was ‘involved in the conquest of Shushi’.

CivilNet also found that the other witness, Grigoryan, appeared in a video filmed in Stepanakert and published in October 2023 by Azerbaijani media, talking about his decision to stay in Karabakh. He also used swear words when talking about Armenians.

Moreover, in 2024, both of them appeared in a photo with representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society.

‘The Azerbaijani side is using these photos and videos for propaganda purposes, trying to create the impression that Armenians can live safely in territories under Azerbaijani control’, CivilNet wrote.

On Thursday, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former State Minister Artak Beglaryan suggested that the two Armenians ‘do not have high willpower’, and there was ‘a high probability’ that Azerbaijan forced or encouraged them ‘in some way’ to testify against Vardanyan.

Beglaryan claimed that at least one of them ‘is an alcoholic’ and that they ‘also have mental stability issues’, which was well-known among Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.