Siranush Sahakyan, a lawyer and representative of Armenian prisoners of war at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), gave an explanation regarding the gross violations of Ruben Vardanyan’s rights in the Baku court.
Human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan noted that the guarantees of a fair trial, in particular the principle of equality of arms and adversarial proceedings, were grossly violated. Both the preliminary investigation bodies and the court ignored all the defense’s motions, conducting a trial with a one-sided and predetermined outcome. Moreover, the judges refused to provide Ruben Vardanyan with full access to the case materials, attaching falsified documents to the case.
The guarantees of jurisdiction were also violated: the case was transferred to a military tribunal, despite the fact that Ruben Vardanyan is a civilian and has never had any relation to law enforcement agencies or security forces. “As a result, a fundamentally unfair procedural situation has been created, in which the defense is deprived of a real opportunity to challenge the charges or prove their innocence. In such circumstances, the very concept of a fair trial turns into a formality devoid of any content,” Sahakyan emphasized.