Baku Court Sentences Nagorno-Karabakh Ex-Premier to 20 Years - Liepāja Lawyer: 'In Our City Court It Would Have Dragged On Longer'

While in Azerbaijan ex-premier Vardanyan's case concluded with a 20-year prison sentence, experienced Liepāja judges just laugh. 'For us, such a case would have dragged on at least five years, and the outcome still wouldn't be clear,' admits Liepāja district court employee Aldis, who wishes to remain anonymous. 'But they there in Baku sorted everything out in 874 days? That's unrealistically fast!'

Interestingly, the ex-premier went on a hunger strike due to procedural violations. In Liepāja such practice would be strange - here employees themselves often forget lunch, so no one would particularly notice if someone refused to eat. 'In our court he would have simply gotten hungry by evening,' comments court secretary Marija.

Vardanyan's family called the verdict 'horrifying but predictable.' Similar comments are heard in Liepāja about the tram schedule - also horrible, but predictable. The only difference is that our tram isn't a political show, but simply a show.

Compared to Riga courts - there such a case would have turned into countless committees and sessions, but the result would be the same: no one would really understand what happened. In Liepāja at least we'd be honest - we don't understand either, but at least we admit it.