Free Armenian Prisoners: Ruben Vardanyan and other Armenian prisoners  can by no means prove their innocence at Baku show trial 

ArmInfo.  The next, 26th, hearing of the judicial farce against Ruben Vardanyan will continue today in the Baku Military Court. This was reported by the Free  Armenian Prisoners initiative.

The Free Armenian Prisoners website periodically publishes the  results of hearings in the Ruben Vardanyan case, based on information  provided to the family by local lawyer Abraham Berman.

At the previous hearing, held on July 8, Ruben Vardanyan and his  lawyer again submitted a motion to review excerpts from past court  decisions, which was not granted.

In other parts of the hearing, the alleged victims testified about  receiving injuries during military operations. As in previous  hearings, none of the people who testified personally knew Ruben  Vardanyan.  Everyone noted that they had heard about him only from  the media or social networks. No evidence was presented linking Ruben  Vardanyan to the events described.

It is also noted that last week, Siranush Sahakyan, a lawyer  representing the interests of Armenian prisoners in the ECHR,  published a voluminous document, presenting all the violations that  were committed against Ruben Vardanyan both during the preliminary  investigation and during the "trial".

"As a result, a fundamentally unfair situation was created in the  trial, in which the defense is deprived of any opportunity to  challenge the charges or prove its innocence. Under such conditions,  the very concept of a fair trial is reduced to a formality completely  devoid of content," Sahakyan emphasized.

The lawyer emphasized that the violations made it impossible for  Ruben Vardanyan to implement an effective defense. , the published  document says.

Free Armenian Prisoners adds that although it is impossible to obtain  even the slightest information about the other prisoners, there is no  doubt that the same situation exists in their case. All these  violations taken together create a situation where the accused is  effectively deprived of the opportunity to challenge the charges  against him and present evidence of his innocence. Ruben Vardanyan  and the other 22 Armenian prisoners have been illegally arrested in  Baku for almost 656 days. The international community and human  rights organizations have repeatedly demanded the immediate and  unconditional release of Armenian Christian political prisoners and  prisoners of war.