The mock trial in the case of Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) resumed this morning in the Baku Military Court, in the Azerbaijani capital.
This case has been separate from the case of the former presidents of Artsakh and others, which is also scheduled for today, in the same court, and before the same judge.
Although Azerbaijan calls it an “open trial,” only the members of two Azerbaijani state media are present in the courtroom. And they, as a rule, publicize the same report and the same footage in the evening, probably after coordination in some organizations, and also transmit the footage to the media that could not attend the court session.
The Free Armenian Prisoners.com website reports that, “There is no evidence that independent NGOs or journalists or foreign embassy representatives were allowed to attend the proceeding.”
Only what is beneficial to them is reported from these court hearings. In an interview with us, lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, for example, had said that Ruben Vardanyan plead not guilty at the very first hearing.
Also, Vardanyan proposed to observe a minute of silence to honor the casualties of the conflict, regardless of nationality. However, the Azerbaijani media did not report anything about this, instead they publicized the “testimony” of former Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan about his alleged apology.