Azerbaijan sentences former Nagorno-Karabakh leader to 20 years
Azerbaijan has been back in control of the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh for more than two years. Now, criminal proceedings and sentences have been handed down against leading politicians from there. Human rights activists are concerned and speak of show trials.
Baku/Berlin (dpa) - A military court in Azerbaijan has handed down a 20-year prison sentence to Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of the recaptured breakaway Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, state media reported on Tuesday. Vardanyan had faced charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism.
Sentences of life in prison or 20 years were passed on other Armenians who served as political leaders in the enclave until its recapture in September 2023. Arayik Harutyunyan, who served as the last president of the region, was among five sentenced to life in prison. They had also been charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and terrorism.
The trial of 16 politicians started at the beginning of the year. Vardanyan was tried separately. Several German human rights organizations criticized the proceedings as politically motivated show trials and called on the German embassy to monitor them.
Nagorno-Karabakh has always belonged to Azerbaijan under international law, but from the 1990s it governed itself with the help of the Armenian army with Russian support as a breakaway state also known as the Republic of Artsakh. In September 2023, Azerbaijani troops deployed by authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev regained control of the region. More than 100,000 Armenians fled to Armenia. Many of their leaders were arrested and taken to Baku. Armenia has accused its eastern neighbour of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.