ICC first prosecutor questions opinion of the UN Working Group on  Ruben Vardanyan

ArmInfo. The First Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has published an expert opinion on the February 17, 2025, opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This was reported by the  Free Armenian Prisoners initiative.

The opinion identifies a conflict of interest that raises serious  doubts about the impartiality of the Group's opinion.

The Group concluded that Ruben Vardanyan's detention by Azerbaijan  was not arbitrary. In his expert opinion, Ocampo substantiates the  conflict of interest by noting that the current Chair of the Group,  Anna Yudkivska, is a partner at Equity Law Firm, a law firm  representing the interests of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR in  Ukraine. Luis Moreno Ocampo conducted an open-source investigation  into the impartiality of the current Chair-Rapporteur, Ukrainian  lawyer Anna Yudkivska.

"Anna Yudkovsky should have recused herself from all cases before the  Working Group against Azerbaijan. She has a conflict of interest  arising from her professional activities as an active partner at  Equity Law Firm, which has provided legal services to the State Oil  Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) for many years. This  establishes a direct financial connection between her and the  government of Azerbaijan, which is a party to the proceedings,"  Ocampo noted in his expert opinion.

He argues that this situation violates the Code of Conduct and other  UN regulations, which require disclosure in cases of financial  conflicts of interest with UN functions. "Yudkivska's failure to  disclose this role or her refusal to participate in related  proceedings constitutes a violation of Article 5 of the WGAD's  working methods, which provides for recusal in cases of conflicts of  interest." Ocampo also noted the close personal and political ties of  Anna Yudkivska's husband, a Ukrainian politician accused of  corruption in Azerbaijan.

"In light of these circumstances, a possible equivalent remedy would  be for the Panel to invalidate the opinion and request the original  petitioner to file a new petition, which the Panel will then develop  anew," Ocampo wrote in his opinion.

In the interests of transparency and accountability, and given the  importance of the Working Group's work, the Panel could publicly  respond to these allegations. "Without further inquiry, the Group can  provide additional information regarding how this case was conducted,  who the rapporteur was and how he was selected, whether Dr. Yudkovsky  ever disclosed to the Working Group and OHCHR staff that her law firm  represented the interests of the Government of Azerbaijan, and, if  so, whether the Working Group overlooked this conflict of interest by  allowing her to participate in cases related to Azerbaijan," Ocampo's  expert opinion states.

On January 17, the Baku Military Court began hearing the "indictment"  against former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders on fabricated criminal  charges. Among the defendants are three former presidents of Nagorno-  Karabakh: Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan.  Also appearing before the "court" were former Foreign Minister David  Babayan, Parliament Speaker David Ishkhanyan, former Defense Army  Commander General Levon Mnatsakanyan, General David Manukyan, and  former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan.