Azerbaijan seeks sentences of up to life for Karabakh ex-separatist officials

BAKU (Reuters) -Azerbaijani prosecutors said they would seek sentences of up to life in prison for 15 ex-leaders and officials in Nagorno-Karabakh, two years after Baku retook the region that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Nearly all of Karabakh’s roughly 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled after Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in September 2023. A slew of former Karabakh presidents and ministers, as well as civilian and military officials, were arrested and taken to Baku.

They have since been charged with war crimes, terrorism and forcible seizure of power.

Azerbaijani prosecutors said on Thursday they would seek life sentences for Araik Harutyunyan, a former self-styled president of Karabakh; Levon Mnatsakanyan and David Manukyan, a former commander and deputy commander of Karabakh’s army; ex-parliamentary speaker David Ishkhanyan; and a former foreign minister, David Babayan.

Other defendants will face sentences ranging from 16 to 20 years.

Javid Rzazade, a lawyer for Harutyunyan, declined to comment on the case. He said the court would next convene on November 27. Defence arguments for the defendants have yet to be presented.

Another former Karabakh official, Ruben Vardanyan, is being tried separately and faces 42 charges including terrorism.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by William Mallard and Alison Williams)