BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 28. A criminal case has been initiated against the former so-called "state minister" of the separatist regime in Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan, Trend reports via the State Security Service of Azerbaijan.
"Substantial suspicions were established that Ruben Vardanyan, currently a citizen of Armenia, had committed criminal acts under Articles 214-1 (financing of terrorism), 279.3 (participation in the establishment and activities of armed formations or groups not provided for by law), and 318.1 (illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan," the service said.
"The charge brought against Vardanyan has established that he, as a citizen of a foreign state, illegally crossed the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan outside the designated checkpoints in September 2022 with the intent of carrying out terrorist and subversive acts and infiltrated the territory where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed [under the trilateral statement signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders following the 2020 second Karabakh war] in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan," said the statement.
It was also noted that Vardanyan was involved in organizing activities of illegal armed formations on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which conducted raids on institutions, organizations, and individuals, resulting in casualties and other serious consequences.
"Vardanyan also supplied them with weapons, ammunition, explosives, and military equipment," said the statement. "Vardanyan was detained at the Lachin border checkpoint and prosecuted on September 27. By court decision he was sentenced to imprisonment."