ArmInfo. Former captain of the Armenian national football team, midfielder of Milan's Inter Henrikh Mkhitaryan appealed to international organizations to take all necessary steps to release Armenian prisoners of war from Baku.
"Freedom for Ruben Vardanyan, freedom for Armenian prisoners," the footballer wrote on his Instagram page.
On January 17, a farcical trial of 16 Armenian prisoners of war will begin in Baku, 8 of whom are former representatives of the military-political leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh - former State Minister of Artsakh Ruben Vardanyan, former Commander of the Defense Army Levon Mnatsakanyan, former Deputy Commander of the Defense Army David Manukyan, former Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh David Babayan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh David Ishkhanyan, former Presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan and Arayik Harutyunyan.
The famous philanthropist and businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who is illegally held as a political prisoner in the dungeons of a Baku prison, made a statement in which he emphasized that a court hearing on his case has been scheduled for January 17 at 15:00. "I was told that I was facing 42 charges, some of which carry up to life imprisonment. But I have not yet been given the opportunity to read the official indictment. My lawyer and I were only allowed to leaf through 422 volumes of the criminal case in Azerbaijani, a language I do not speak, with a fairly short period of time from December 9, 2024 to January 8, 2025. I received the list of articles under which I was charged in Russian only on January 8, 2025. At the same time, pressure was put on me, my lawyer and an interpreter to force us to sign documents retroactively, including falsified protocols of failed interrogations. I officially declare: I have not given any testimony since the first day of my arrest, with the exception of the first interrogation, when I only gave my first and last name. I emphasize once again: all protocols with my signature are falsifications. There are no such documents in reality does not exist. My lawyer and translator were forced to sign these documents. I once again declare my complete innocence and the innocence of my compatriots and demand that this politicized case against us be immediately stopped," the former state minister of Artsakh emphasized.