The mock trial of Ruben Vardanyan will continue today in the Baku Military Court. At the previous session, the prosecutor read out the “indictment,” according to which the charges against Vardanyan date back to 1988, when he was still a student at Moscow State University.
This was reported by the Free Armenian Prisoners team.
All motions submitted by Vardanyan’s defense attorney were rejected, in particular, they related to the provision of copies of all written documents and materials used by the accuser, the provision of written documents and materials in Russian or English, ensuring access to videos attached as “evidence,” and ensuring internet connection to have access to materials necessary for the defense.
It is noted that so far less than five percent of the indictment and “evidence” have been translated for Ruben Vardanyan. And his local lawyer was able to study only 20 percent of the materials. At the previous hearing, Ruben Vardanyan’s defense attorney filed a motion to challenge the court-appointed translator after serious discrepancies were found in the documents he translated, such as references to Belarusian legislation in the translated decision of the preliminary hearing.
Although the motion was rejected, the court ordered an accurate translation to be provided.
Ruben Vardanyan’s lawyer also filed a motion to challenge the judicial panel. The judicial panel announced that this motion will be considered only when the state prosecutor completes the publication of the charges. The publication of the “charges” will continue at today’s hearing.
Let us recall that Ruben Vardanyan’s case is separate. The next hearing in the case of the former presidents of Artsakh and others is on February 11.
