The Baku Military Court, chaired by Judge Zeynal Agayev, has rejected the appeal of Ruben Vardanyan, a citizen of Armenia accused of torture, mercenary, violating the laws or customs of war, terrorism, financing terrorism and other articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Report informs.
Ruben Vardanyan’s defense attorney, lawyer Avraam Berman, citing the non-satisfaction of the motions filed by Ruben Vardanyan, the panel of judges hearing the case objected to the composition of the court. The defendant’s lawyers defended the objection.
Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General Vusal Aliyev noted that the criminal procedural legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan defines specific cases of objection to a judge and this objection must be substantiated.
At the same time, according to the legislation, an objection can be raised if there is concrete and credible evidence confirming the judge’s interest in the criminal prosecution. The prosecutor said that since the defense has not presented concrete evidence at this stage of the proceedings that the judicial panel is interested in the criminal prosecution, the objection should be left unconsidered.
As the representative of the victim, Head of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Office, Rufat Mammadov, and other victims participating in the trial also requested that the court disregard the objection.
Then, the court went into deliberation to consider the objection. The conclusion made following the discussion was that the objection was left unconsidered.
