Life sentence sought for ex-Russian billionaire
An Azerbaijani state prosecutor has requested a life sentence for Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire and former Russian citizen standing trial in Baku on multiple charges, as reported by local media.
The Armenian-born businessman gave up his Russian citizenship after relocating to the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2022, which had long been at the center of a dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He went on to serve in the administration of a self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Baku restored control over the territory through military action in 2023, after which Vardanyan was detained while attempting to leave.
At a hearing before a military tribunal in Baku on Thursday, prosecutors reiterated claims that Vardanyan, in his capacity as state minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also known as Artsakh, bore responsibility for a range of crimes. These included crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism, and financing of terrorism, the prosecution said, urging the court to impose a life sentence. Vardanyan’s trial began in January.
In a statement released earlier the same day through Vardanyan’s family, he repeated his characterization of the proceedings as an “imitation of justice” and proclaimed that “Arstakh was, is, and will be.”
Vardanyan, 57, amassed his fortune in the 1990s as a co-founder of the investment firm Troika Dialogue. In 2011, the company was acquired by Russia’s largest lender, Sber, in a deal valued at $1.4 billion.
