YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—The Azerbaijani authorities said on Tuesday that they intend to arrest and prosecute soon Ara Harutiunyan, the Nagorno-Karabakh president.
“Harutiunyan, who presents himself as the leader of a self-proclaimed regime, will be brought to justice by operational divisions and special services and intelligence agencies as quickly as possible,” a senior prosecutor, Nemat Avazov, told reporters in Baku.
He said that Harutiunyan is wanted for his role in Armenian missile strikes on Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Gyanja carried out during the 2020 war over Karabakh.
The strikes, which reportedly left over two dozen civilians dead, followed relentless Azerbaijani shelling of Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert and other towns. The deadly shelling continued until Russia-brokered ceasefire stopped the six-week war in November 2020.
Karabakh’s leadership did not immediately react to the Azerbaijani official’s statement.
The Azerbaijani authorities already issued international arrest warrants for Harutiunyan and other Karabakh Armenian leaders shortly after the war.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General condemned the move at the time, saying that it has “taken measures” to prevent them from being placed on Interpol’s most wanted list. Harutiunyan has repeatedly visited Russia since then.
