Ruben Vardanyan`s lawyer has been able to study only 20% of materials  - Free Armenian prisoners

ArmInfo. The fake trial with the announcement of "charges" against the former State Minister of Artsakh, philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan continues in the Baku Military Court.

Meanwhile, as ArmInfo was informed by the press service of the Free  Armenian Prisoners initiative, Vardanyan's lawyer was able to study  only 20% of the materials, while less than 5% of the thousands of  pages of the indictment and "evidence" that will be used against the  philanthropist have been translated orally. At the same time, all of  the lawyer's submitted motions were rejected.

The motions, in particular, concerned the provision of copies of all  written documents and materials that the prosecution will use during  the trial, the translation of all the mentioned materials into  Russian or English, access to video evidence, and regular access to  the Internet to familiarize themselves with the materials necessary  to prepare for the trial.

As the initiative recalled, at the previous hearing, the prosecutor  read out the "indictment", according to which the charges brought  against Vardanyan date back to 1988, when he was still a student at  Moscow State University.

"At the previous hearing, Vardanyan's lawyer filed a motion to remove  the court-appointed translator after discovering serious  inconsistencies in the translated documents. In particular, the  translated decision following the preliminary hearing contained  references to Belarusian legislation.  Although the motion was  rejected, the court ordered that a correct and reliable translation  be provided," the statement said.

Vardanyan's lawyer also filed a motion to remove the panel of judges.  The panel of judges stated that this motion would be considered only  after the state prosecutor completes the presentation of the  "indictments".

According to the source, the next hearing on the case of the former  presidents of Artsakh and others will be held on February 11.

On January 17, under the chairmanship of Judge Zeynal Agayev, the  Baku Military Court began considering the "indictment" against the  former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Among the accused are three  former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh: Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako  Sahakyan and Arayik Harutyunyan. Also appearing before the court will  be former Foreign Minister David Babayan, Speaker of the Parliament  David Ishkhanyan, former Commander of the Defense Army General Levon  Mnatsakanyan, General David Manukyan and former State Minister Ruben  Vardanyan.

On January 16, Vardanyan made a statement in which he demanded that  he and his lawyer be given the opportunity to fully prepare for their  defense; that all violations and falsifications be eliminated; that  the trial of him and all the other accused be made public. "I insist  on a maximally open trial with the participation of international  journalists and representatives of humanitarian organizations.  I am  convinced that only a real court, and not a trial, will help take a  step forward on the difficult path of building new relations between  our peoples," he emphasized. In conclusion, he demanded that his case  be combined with the cases of other defendants. "More than 400  volumes of my case out of 422 are episodes of a common case.  Separating my case into a separate proceeding is an artificial and  unfounded decision," Vardanyan added.