The mock trial of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former state minister Ruben Vardanyan will continue today in Baku Military Court, in Azerbaijani capital Baku.

The website Freearmenianprisoners.com publicizes brief information about what happened in this court session after each session, which is made available to Vardanyan's family through a local lawyer.

At the previous session, the prosecutor began reading “charges” dating back to 1988, which have no connection to Ruben, as he was studying at Moscow State University at that time.

All of the motions made by Ruben Vardanyan’s attorney were denied including: a request for copies of all written documents and materials to be used by the Prosecution at trial; a request for translations of all such written documents and materials into Russian or English, as he does not understand Azeri; a request for access to all referenced video “evidence” with translations, as necessary; and a request for regular access to the Internet to access materials necessary to prepare for trial.

It is noted that so far, Ruben Vardanyan has only had orally translated for him less than five percent of thousands of pages of the indictment and “evidence,” to be used against him.  And his local counsel has only been able to review 20 percent of the materials.

At the previous hearing, Ruben Vardanyan’s defense attorney filed a motion to challenge the court-appointed interpreter after discovering serious discrepancies in the translated documents provided to him, e.g.: The translated decision from the preliminary hearing contained references to Belarusian legislation, which is entirely irrelevant to the case. The court clarified that this translation had been done by a different translator, not the one currently interpreting the proceedings. While the motion was denied, the court instructed that a correct and accurate translation be provided.

Also, Ruben Vardanyan’s attorney submitted a motion to recuse the judicial panel. The judicial panel stated that this motion would only be considered after the state prosecutor finishes presenting the “charges.”

The announcement of “charges” will continue at today’s court hearing.

Ruben Vardanyan’s court case is separate from that of the former presidents of Artsakh and others, whose next court hearing is on Tuesday.