An Azerbaijani court has handed down a 20-year prison sentence to Ruben Vardanyan, a wealthy Armenian-born banker who held a top government position in the now-collapsed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to reports from state-controlled media outlets.
The sentencing took place Tuesday in Baku, where Vardanyan had been facing trial in military court for more than 12 months. He was charged with multiple serious offenses, including terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Vardanyan previously held the second-highest government role in Karabakh during 2022 and 2023, before the Armenian administration there fell apart in 2023.
Government prosecutors in Azerbaijan had initially sought a life sentence for the billionaire banker, but the court ultimately imposed the shorter two-decade term instead.
