Ex-Moscow Banker Vardanyan Jailed for 20 Years in Azerbaijan

Ruben Vardanyan, a founder of one of Moscow’s first investment banks, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Azerbaijan, concluding one of the highest-profile trials stemming from Baku’s takeover of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Armenian billionaire and former state minister of the disputed territory was convicted under multiple articles of Azerbaijan’s criminal code, including illegal border crossing, financing terrorism and forming illegal armed groups, the Baku Military Court ruled Tuesday.