MP: Azerbaijan using sham trials of Armenian prisoners as 'a deadly weapon' against Armenia

Opposition Pativ Unem faction MP Tigran Abrahamyan has reacted to a recent message from Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist jailed in Azerbaijan.

In his statement, Vardanyan, a former Artsakh state minister, revealed that he had launched another hunger strike to protest against his ongoing sham trial in Baku.

Earlier, Vardanyan insisted that he had refused to give any testimony and all protocols bearing his signature were falsifications.

“Obviously, Azerbaijan employs the same tactics, with slight variations, against other Armenians held in Baku prisons,” Abrahamyan wrote on Facebook on Friday.

“The concerns raised by Ruben Vardanyan not only confirm the extreme vulnerability and defenselessness of our compatriots, but also reinforce the idea that Azerbaijan, as part of its preparations for new aggression against Armenia, is using the sham trials as a deadly weapon – an instrument of blackmail to pressure Armenia into making further concessions," he stated.