Lawyer and representative of Armenian prisoners of war at the European Court of Human Rights provided clarifications at the ECHR about the gross violations of Ruben Vardanyan's rights.

The human rights defender stated that the investigating authorities and the court ignored all of the defendant's motions, conducting a one-sided, pre-prepared investigation. In doing so, they grossly violated the guarantees of a fair trial, in particular the principle of equality of arms and the adversarial nature of court proceedings.

Moreover, the judges denied Ruben full access to the case files, while at the same time adding falsified records to them. Jurisdictional guarantees were also violated: the case was transferred to a military tribunal, even though Ruben is a civilian and has never had any connection with law enforcement or security services.

“As a result, the trial is unfolding according to a fundamentally unfair scenario, in which the defendant is deprived of any real opportunity to challenge the charges or declare his innocence. In such circumstances, the very concept of a fair trial is reduced to a facade, completely devoid of substance,” Sahakyan emphasized.

The document presenting the gross violations of Ruben Vardanyan's rights can be viewed at this link.