In this edition of the “Explanation” column, we present available information about the lawyer, prosecutors and judges of Ruben Vardanyan.
1. Who is defending Ruben Vardanyan?
On February 13, 2025, Ruben Vardanyan refused the services of Azer Magerramov, a lawyer provided by the Azerbaijani government.
Following this, his legal defense was taken over by Avraam Berman, a lawyer hired by Vardanyan’s family.
Avraam Berman has an Instagram page, which is updated infrequently - the latest post dates back to May 2024.
His official website is available only in Azerbaijani.
Avraam Berman Photo: Avraam Berman website
In an interview published in August 2020, Berman said that as a teenager he was fascinated by law history, and “after watching the films The Nuremberg Trials, A Civil Action, and Primal Fear, I realized that my ‘stage’ is the courtroom.”
In the same interview, he said he was practicing law for the second year.
“I started my career in an ordinary law firm, where I worked for a year. Then I worked at the Court of Appeal for five years. I started as a judge’s assistant, rising to the position of senior counsel to the chairman. As a lawyer, I am qualified mainly in civil and commercial disputes,” Berman said.
“I have not had any conflicts with clients, or any difficulties in communicating with them. I believe that one meeting is enough to truly understand a person,” the lawyer said.
Speaking about his concerns in Azerbaijan’s legal system, Avraam Berman noted the “cheapness of justice.”
“It is possible to pay a miserable state duty and remain in litigation for several years. Meanwhile, judges are handling up 40 cases a day,” the lawyer said.
“Another problem is the negligence of state institution employees to citizens’ applications and complaints. There are still remnants of the Soviet past here. When an appeal is delayed for no clear reason, a citizen is forced to file complaints to higher authorities or turn to journalists. Only then the process begins to move forward,” Berman explained.
Avraam Berman Photo: Avraam Berman website
In another interview in September 2023, Avraam Berman was asked whether clients should disclose everything to their lawyer:
“It is necessary. It is in the client’s best interest to tell the truth. The advice a lawyer gives and the evidence they seek depend entirely on that.”
“When I decide to take on a case, I need to be certain that I can help. If I do not see a way forward, I will not take it. I have to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he noted.
2. Who is the judge in Ruben Vardanyan’s trial?
Zeynal Aghayev, Chairman of the Baku Military Court, is presiding over the trial.
In November 2023, Aghayev sentenced Vagif Khachatryan, accused of participating in “committing genocide in the village of Meshali in the Khojaly district” to 15 years in prison.
Vagif KhachatryanPhoto: Trend
Zeynal Aghayev was appointed as chairman of the Baku Military Court in April 2024 by order of President Ilham Aliyev.
Aghayev has appeared on the list of “Judges who passed sentences on political orders” posted on the website of the Institute for Peace and Democracy. It is noted that Zeynal Aghayev was a judge at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, which issued an “illegal and unjustified guilty verdict against 13 Armenian prisoners of war” on July 23, 2021.
Aghayev’s assistants at the trial are judges Anar Rzayev and Jamal Ramazanov.
Photo: Trend
In November 2022, Anar Rzayev sentenced Ali Aliyev, chairman of the Citizens and Development Party, accused of beating a cellmate, to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
Judge Jamal Ramazanov has previously specialized in grave criminal cases. In particular, in the mid-2000s he presided over cases involving a man who fatally stabbed a woman 40 times, a man who murdered his wife and sister-in-law, and a store owner who stabbed a customer over unpaid debt.
3. Who is prosecuting Ruben Vardanyan?
The state prosecution is represented by Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General Vusal Aliyev, Assistant to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General for Special Assignments Tugay Rahimli, prosecutors Nasir Bayramov, Fuad Musayev, Vusal Abdullayev and Tarana Mammadova.
Photo: Trend
No publicly available information has been found about them.
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