Ex-Russian billionaire handed 20-year sentence in Azerbaijan

Ruben Vardanyan has been found guilty of multiple crimes tied to a leadership role in the now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

A court in Azerbaijani capital Baku has handed billionaire and former Russian citizen Ruben Vardanyan a 20-year prison term.

Vardanyan was found guilty on Tuesday of multiple crimes related to his role as a state minister in the now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

They included waging an aggressive war, terrorism, violent seizure of power, violations of the rules of war, weapons smuggling, use of torture, and endangerment of aviation security.

Nagorno-Karabakh was at the center of a decades-long dispute between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Baku regained control of the territory following a conflict in 2023, prompting the departure of its remaining ethnic Armenian population and the dissolution of the local administration.

Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani security forces in September 2023 as he tried flee the republic. The Armenian-born businessman had given up his Russian citizenship after relocating to Nagorno-Karabakh and joining its government in 2022.

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Vardanyan’s family said in a statement that the sentence was “horrific, but expected,” adding that the hearings took place behind closed doors, which is “incompatible with fair trial standards, not only under international law, but even under Azerbaijani law.”

“Anyone who knows Ruben personally or has interacted with him professionally understands the absurdity and inconsistency of the charges against him,” the statement read.

An Azerbaijani state prosecutor had previously requested a life sentence for the businessman.

Vardanyan, 57, amassed his fortune in the 1990s as a co-founder of the investment firm Troika Dialogue. The company was acquired in 2011 by Russia’s largest lender, Sber, in a deal valued at $1.4 billion.