Azerbaijan confirmed, Thursday, October 5, that it had arrested a former president of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave where it has just won a lightning victory against Armenian separatists.
Arayik Haroutiounian, who led the enclave until early September 2023, was detained on suspicion of “waging a war” and “hiring mercenaries,” “violating international humanitarian principles,” he said. said the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office.
The day before, Armenia had condemned the arrests of former leaders or officials of Nagorno-Karabakh, citing in particular the case of Arayik Haroutiounian without specifying when he was arrested. But Azerbaijan had not yet confirmed this information.
“Illegal” arrests
Yerevan denounces “illegal” and “arbitrary” arrests by Baku in the ranks of the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian authorities regretted that “Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies continue to carry out arbitrary arrests,” despite promises of “respect for the rights of Armenians” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Another senior official from the enclave, Ruben Vardanian, was placed in pre-trial detention at the end of September. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for his rights to be respected while his children said they “fear for his life and health”. They claimed to have no information about his conditions of detention.
