BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 4. Court hearings on the criminal case against Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian citizen charged with torture, mercenary activity, violation of the laws and customs of warfare, terrorism, financing terrorism and other articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were continued on March 4. Ruben Vardanyan was asked questions about his relationship with the founder of the terrorist organization “VoMa”, Vartanov Vladimir (Vova) Levanovich, the correspondence and voice messages sent between the two via WhatsApp, the fact that the organization arranged and financed the training for illegal armed groups in Karabakh under Armenia’s control, Vladimir Vartanov’s participation in military operations against our the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the First Karabakh War, the April battles of 2016, the Second Karabakh War, and the organization’s trainers, Trend reports.
The accused Ruben Vardanyan was asked whether Armenia had given its consent to the training, who created the conditions for this, whether any minors were involved in the training, and whether Ruben Vardanyan organized and financed these trainings as an entrepreneur or as an official of the self-styled junta.
Then Ruben Vardanyan was asked questions about his relations with Vladimir Sergeyevich Poghosyan, the founder and chairman of the “Committee 27” movement, which operates under the guise of an authority on security issues, Ruben Vardanyan’s negotiations and correspondence with him through the “Signal” mobile application, other mobile applications and social networks, whether there was any cooperation between them, whether the plan of the Armenian state in creating a “national center of special operation forces” was to inflict heavy losses on the Azerbaijani state, which they describe as an “enemy”, what the meaning of “heavy losses” was, as well as other questions about members of the center and rules of its financing.
In addition, questions were asked about whether the “center” in question was subordinated to the self-styled entity or to the state of Armenia in the same way as its Ministry of Defense.
The accused Ruben Vardanyan did not answer any of the questions asked of him.
The open hearings were held at the Baku Military Court and presided over by Judge Zeynal Agayev and a panel of judges consisting of Anar Rzayev and Jamal Ramazanov. The accused was provided with an interpreter in the language of his choice, i.e. Russian, as well as lawyers for his defense.