In Azerbaijan a billionaire in Azerbaijan, which risks staying after a peaceful deal

Ruben Vardanyan is one of the richest men of Armenia, but millions are used little when he faces a possible life in prison in nearby Azerbaijan.

The two neighboring countries of the Caucasus agreed with the text of the historical peace deal until the end of the decades to Nagorno-Karabakh, but Vardanyan and 15 other former ethnic Armenian leaders are not part of the agreement.

They are being tried in a military court in Baku, accused of war crimes, which are up to decades.

Vardanyan, a 56-year-old Russian Armen-Armen, is facing 42 allegations, including planning and war, hired events and terrorism.

His picture seemed to show the bruises on his forehead, and there were accusations of torture, referred to Azerbaijan, which insisted that his rights respected in custody.

This means a dramatic fall for a person who has earned happiness in Russia and once rubbed his shoulders with celebrities such as George and Amal Clooney.

It created the first Russian investment bank back in the early 1990s, and as the founder of the prestigious business management school in the country “Skolkovo” he enjoyed the reputation of a progressive visionary, convenient Western voice in Russia’s business community in the 2000s.

But in 2019, an investigation into the report on organized crime and corruption said that in the mid-2000s its investment bank had created a financial system that laundered billions of dollars.

Vardanyan denied to be aware of any criminal acts and was never accused.

He conducted hundreds of millions of dollars on charity projects in Armenia and turned the quiet city into snow mountains in the north, creating a school in order to attract students from all over the world.

“This school was presented as an institution that would lead Armenia into the world and the world in Armenia,” says Adam Armansky, director of the United World College (UWC) Dilijana.

In September 2022, everything changed in Ruben Vardanyan when he decided to move to Nagorno-Karabas, a mountainous region, which was historically populated by ethnic Armenians, but part of the Soviet Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have already conducted two complete large -scale wars over the region, which was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

The first war in Karabakh in the 1990s led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azerbai.

Then, in 2020, Azerbaijan – backed by Turkey – resumed control over the large territory of the lost territory, while the Karabakh Anclau remained in the hands of ethnic Armenian separatists.

For months after Varodanyan’s arrival, Azerbaijani authorities blocked a single road that connected Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia, By subjuring the population of the region a serious food deficiency.

Vardanyan abandoned his Russian citizenship and became the actual Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, whom the Armenians are called art. He used his name, contacts and the ability to speak English to enhance the Armenian Karabakh’s difficult position.

“My father had more interviews with international media in three months than all other Nagorno-Karabi presidents.

There were suggestions that Vardanian moved there to avoid international sanctions imposed on the billionaires of Russia with reference to the Kremlin.

The Baku government found its decision to make the post illegal.

His son insists that he is driven by the desire to help local Armenians.

“We had an argument in our last family holiday, I was completely against his decision, which was at risk of the whole family. He said he would not be able to live with him, knowing that I did nothing for Armenians.”

The long -term friend of his father Aman Gilavian said that even the most remote chance of helping ethnic Armenians to stay on his eternal land.

“Some say it was irrationally, some say it was a super calculated political step. I think no one is true,” he says.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military operation and took control of the whole territory in 24 hours.

Nagorno-Karabakh leaders surrendered and more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians were forced to leave their homes.

Vardanyan was arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities when he joined the mass exodus to Armenia.

Most of his time was spent in solitary confidence, his family says.

He has already been on a hunger strike twice, protesting against what he called the lack of a proper trial against the background of torture charges.

Fifteen other former Karabakh leaders are also tried to the military court for alleged war crimes since the late 1980s.

Vardanyan was considered separately, but many in Armenia consider all cases as the tests.

Only the main TV channel of the Azerbaijan TV channel was allowed to shoot the tests.

Azerbaijan insists that it meets international legal standards and that it is responsible for taking into account those suspected of committing war crimes.

But last month, the government in Baku ordered to close local offices of the International Red Cross, the only international organization with access to Armenian prisoners.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on “illegal detention and false tests of Armenian hostages”, calling to release immediately.

On Tuesday, Vardanyan returns to court, but supporters are afraid that his case would be marred by the historic peacefulness between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The details will not be published yet, but the officials say the text project does not include the issue of prisoners or the right of ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh to return to their homes.

Failure to comply with the prisoners caused criticism of the Prime Minister of the Armenian Prime Minister Nicolas Pashin at home and abroad.

But Arsen Tarasyan, a member of the Armenian Civic Party, believes that this issue should be resolved separately.

“This is a peace treaty between the controversial countries with a long history of hatred. I personally think that the completion or signing of this peace treaty can make the issue of political prisoners. I do not see another way to do it.”

Vardanyan warned that this was a mistake.

“This is not a lawsuit over me and 15 others – it is a lawsuit over all Armenians,” he said in a voice message.

“If you don’t understand it, it is a great tragedy because it is not the end of history, not the end of the conflict, this is just the next stage of the conflict for all parties.”