The trial of former President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan and former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who are illegally detained in Azerbaijan, will begin on January 17, according to reports in the Azerbaijani media.

Harutyunyan and Vardanyan have been handed dozens of charges. They face life imprisonment.

Vardanyan' son said in December 2024 that his father, who has been under arrest in Azerbaijan for over a year, has been isolated from lawyers hired by his family. He also confirmed that his father has been handed 45 charges under 20 articles. According to him, the criminal case contains 25,000 pages in Azerbaijani, which are being translated for him by a translator appointed by the “investigator and the prosecutor’s office.