Former separatist head Arayik Harutyunyan prosecuted

Former separatist head Arayik Harutyunyan prosecuted - VIDEO

11:04 05 October 2023 Read: 888

The former head of the separatist regime in Karabakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, has been brought to criminal responsibility, according to a joint statement from the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan, AzVision.az reports.

The General Prosecutor's Office and the State Security Service are taking comprehensive measures to investigate crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, terrorism, and other crimes committed by illegal Armenian armed formations on the territory of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan," the press services noted.

The investigation has identified reasonable suspicions that Harutyunyan, born in 1973 in the Azerbaijani city of Khankendi, acting as the so-called 'president' of separatists and under other aliases, took part in conducting an aggressive war on the territory of Azerbaijan. He was involved in recruiting, training, and financing mercenaries and using them in armed conflict and military operations. He violated the norms of international humanitarian law during the armed conflict by giving criminal orders.

Furthermore, there were reasonable suspicions that Harutyunyan was involved in financing terrorism, forming and organizing the activities of armed groups not provided for by the legislation of Azerbaijan, equipping these formations with weapons, components, ammunition, explosives, military equipment, and gear, organizing training exercises for their use, as well as smuggling the aforementioned ammunition and weapons into the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.

The investigative and operational activities resulted in revealing substantial suspicions that Harutyunyan committed numerous crimes for carrying out terrorist acts, including mining territories of Azerbaijan, launching missile attacks on populated areas and civilian objects in the city of Ganja and Barda district of Azerbaijan [during the 2020 second Karabakh war], which were located outside the war zone.

These attacks resulted in the deaths of numerous civilians and caused varying degrees of bodily harm. He also organized terrorist attacks on civilian and military infrastructure and numerous other crimes.

On October 28, 2020, Harutyunyan was brought as a defendant under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan; based on a court decision, a preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen against him and he was put on the international wanted list. On October 3 of this year, Harutyunyan was detained by officers of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in Khankendi and charged under articles 100, 116, 117, 120, 214, 214-1, 214-3, 218, 279 and other articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.