{"id":11805,"date":"2025-12-18T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/?p=11805"},"modified":"2025-12-22T20:02:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:02:01","slug":"life-sentence-sought-for-ex-russian-billionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/life-sentence-sought-for-ex-russian-billionaire\/","title":{"rendered":"Life sentence sought for ex-Russian billionaire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Azerbaijani prosecutors have charged Ruben Vardanyan with grave crimes tied to the now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An Azerbaijani state prosecutor has requested a life sentence for Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire and former Russian citizen standing trial in Baku on multiple charges, as reported by local media.<\/p>\n<p>The Armenian-born businessman gave up his Russian citizenship after relocating to the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2022, which had long been at the center of a dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He went on to serve in the administration of a self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Baku restored control over the territory through military action in 2023, after which Vardanyan was detained while attempting to leave.<\/p>\n<p>At a hearing before a military tribunal in Baku on Thursday, prosecutors reiterated claims that Vardanyan, in his capacity as state minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also known as Artsakh, bore responsibility for a range of crimes. These included crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism, and financing of terrorism, the prosecution said, urging the court to impose a life sentence. Vardanyan&rsquo;s trial began in January.<\/p>\n<p>\n        <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/611802-ruben-vardanyan-armenia-azerbaijan\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n            <span>READ MORE: <\/span>Justice for Ruben Vardanyan: A \u0441all for reconciliation and peace in the South Caucasus<br \/>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/p>\n<p>In a statement released earlier the same day through Vardanyan&rsquo;s family, he repeated his characterization of the proceedings as an <em>&ldquo;imitation of justice&rdquo;<\/em> and proclaimed that <em>&ldquo;Arstakh was, is, and will be.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Vardanyan, 57, amassed his fortune in the 1990s as a co-founder of the investment firm Troika Dialogue. In 2011, the company was acquired by Russia&rsquo;s largest lender, Sber, in a deal valued at $1.4 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Azerbaijani prosecutors have charged Ruben Vardanyan with grave crimes tied to the now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic An Azerbaijani state prosecutor has requested a life sentence for Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire and former Russian citizen standing trial in Baku on multiple charges, as reported by local media. The Armenian-born businessman gave up&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/life-sentence-sought-for-ex-russian-billionaire\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11806,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805\/revisions\/11806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}