Human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan is preparing to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of former Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) state minister and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, who was held captive in Azerbaijan for about three years and sentenced to 20 years in prison there. The international law specialist notes that they have finally managed to obtain Vardanyan's verdict, which was necessary to start proceedings in the ECHR.

"We are in the preparatory phase, in a few weeks the case will be filed," Sahakyan told RFE/RL.

"In the case of Ruben Vardanyan, we will show that the accusation is political, that no individual criminal act was ever committed by Vardanyan. The right to collective self-determination has been illegally qualified as terrorism, while there can be no punishment without an act provided for by law,” the human rights activist said.

As for the other 15 Armenians being held in Azerbaijani prisons, including the former military and political leadership of Artsakh, Baku still refuses to provide them and their public defenders with the verdicts that were publicized eight months ago. In other words, the 15 Armenian prisoners are still deprived of the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their verdicts, especially regarding what specific actions were attributed to them and on what basis of evidence.

“I believe they [i.e. Azerbaijan] are trying to hinder the process of submitting international appeals, and we also do not exclude that these verdicts are not even finalized, since the trial itself was fabricated, and the outcome of the trial was shaped by political orders. I believe it takes time for the entire law enforcement system to present some reasoning in that judicial act, because they realize that these processes are being transferred to international instances,” said the international law specialist.

Human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan said that in order to apply to the ECHR, it is necessary to have the verdicts. If the Azerbaijani judicial authorities continue to not provide them, they will receive them through the ECHR. The latter has made an interim decision, according to which the Azerbaijani authorities must submit the verdicts of the 15 Armenian citizens to the ECHR by August 31.

“If they do not provide [them] to the European Court as well, we will have allegations of a new level of human rights violations here. I believe the Azerbaijani authorities will not go that route and will at least provide the verdicts to the court,” Sahakyan added.

In February, the Baku Military Court sentenced 16 Armenian prisoners, including the former military and political leadership of Artsakh, to life or long-term imprisonment.