Azerbaijan detains Nagorno-Karabakh's former president 'on suspicion of waging war'

Arayik Harutyunyan being held over alleged war crimes

Arayik Harutyunyan, former leader of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, is being held in Azerbaijan. EPA

Azerbaijan has detained the former president of Nagorno-Karabakh "on suspicion of waging an aggressive war" and alleged war crimes, the prosecutor general and security service said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Arayik Harutyunyan, 49, stepped down shortly before Baku's lightning offensive to retake the disputed region, which was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces.

He led the separatist government during the 2020 armed conflict between Baku and Yerevan for control of the mountainous enclave and stepped down in early September, shortly before Baku's offensive.

Several senior representatives of Karabakh's former authorities and military command have also been detained, including Ruben Vardanyan, a reported billionaire who headed the region's separatist government between November 2022 and February 2023.

Armenia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it "strongly condemned" Azerbaijan for the arrests, adding that it "will take all possible steps to protect the rights of the illegally arrested representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh, including in international courts".

Separatist authorities in the breakaway region agreed to disarm, dissolve their government and reintegrate with Azerbaijan after Baku's one-day military operation in late September.

The central government in Baku is holding re-integration talks with separatist leaders, but Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev has said criminal investigations had been initiated into crimes committed by 300 separatist officials.

The United Nations human rights office has urged Baku to afford the detainees "full respect and protection".

Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, first came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in separatist fighting that ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan retook parts of the area in a war in 2020.

But after last month’s defeat, separatist authorities surrendered their weapons and held talks with Azerbaijan on reintegration of the territory into Azerbaijan.

Most ethnic-Armenian residents – more than 100,000 people – have since fled.

Earlier this month, Hikmet Hajiyev, a diplomatic adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said it had detained "five to six" people whom it accused of war crimes but said that people leaving the country were doing so of their own free will.

"They are free. If somebody puts down his gun, they are free and they have decided on their own choice to go to the republic of Armenia," he said.

"If they accept Azerbaijan citizenship, we will protect and ensure their rights and their security, and we will establish a municipality system so that they can govern their affairs at a local level, and religious and cultural rights will be assured."

Thousands flee Nagorno-Karabakh - in pictures

A wounded Armenian man from Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, is helped by volunteers as he arrives in Goris, Armenia. AP

A family from Nagorno-Karabakh are helped as they leave a truck with their belongings after arriving at Goris. AP

An Armenian woman from Nagorno-Karabakh warms herself near a tent camp after arriving in Goris. AP

A medic helps an Armenian man from Nagorno-Karabakh near the registration and distribution centre in Goris. EPA

Ethnic Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh walk on a road to Kornidzor, in Armenia's Syunik region. AP

An ethnic Armenian boy from Nagorno-Karabakh, looks out from a car window upon his arrival in Goris, Armenia's Syunik region. AP

A satellite view of a long traffic jam of vehicles along the highway approaching to the Armenian border with Azerbaijan, at the Lachin corridor in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. AP

Armenian volunteers distribute clothes to ethnic Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh, after they crossed the Azerbaijan-Armenia border near the village of Kornidzor, Armenia. EPA

Ethnic Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh to Kornidzor, in Armenia's Syunik region. AP

Ethnic Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh region rest on a roadside after crossing the border with Azerbaijan, near the village of Kornidzor. EPA

Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh sit in the back of a vehicle after crossing the border on their way to an Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs registration centre in Kornidzor, Armenia. EPA

Ethnic Armenians at the registration centre. EPA

An elderly woman holds an infant. EPA

Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh look on from inside a van. EPA

Ethnic Armenians arrive at the registration centre. EPA

Ethnic Armenians arrive at the registration centre. EPA

Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh wait near Kornidzor, the town in Syunik region, Armenia. AP

Russian peacekeepers evacuate Nagorno-Karabakh civilians at an undisclosed location. AFP

A refugee from Nagorno-Karabakh region is carried out of a vehicle upon arrival at a temporary accommodation centre in the town of Goris, Armenia. Reuters

An ethnic Armenian embraces a man upon arrival in Armenia's Goris. AP

An ethnic Armenian boy from Nagorno-Karabakh, looks on from a car upon arrival in Goris. AP