This Sunday, Azerbaijan issued international search and arrest warrants against more than 300 Armenians accused of crimes committed since the start of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict more than three decades ago, Attorney General Kamran Aliyev announced.
“We have collected evidence for all these crimes. 300 criminal cases have been filed and international search and arrest warrants have been issued against more than 300 fugitive suspects,” said the Attorney General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, quoted by the EFE agency.
According to Aliyev, prosecutors grouped the crimes according to the period in which they were committed: that of the first Karabakh war (1988-1994), that of the ceasefire (1994-2020), that of the second Karabakh war (2020) and the one after.
Among those wanted by the Azerbaijani judiciary are the former president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arayik Harutyunyan, and the former Defense Minister Dzhal Harutyunyan, who are accused of ordering rocket attacks that carried out countless attacks during the war. have caused casualties among the Azerbaijani civilian population. 2020.
When the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh, for ethnic Armenians) announced its dissolution on Thursday after capitulating to Baku authorities, four former senior officials were arrested, the last of whom was former Foreign Minister David. Baboyan.
Former Prime Minister Ruben Vardaryan and two senior heads of the armed forces, David Manukian and Levon Mnatsakanyan, were also arrested.
Following the Azerbaijani military operation that took place last week and led to the capitulation of the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 people of Armenian descent living in this region left the enclave for Armenia.
The UN mission is assessing the humanitarian situation
A UN mission arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the humanitarian situation in the area, following the flight last week of more than 100,000 Armenians from the enclave, which belongs to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani presidency said on Sunday.
According to video footage from local news agency APA, the mission arrived in the enclave in six UN vehicles via the Agdam-Askeran highway.
On Friday, UN General Secretariat spokesman Stéphane Dujarric announced that an agreement had been reached with the government of Azerbaijan to send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh this weekend.
According to Dujarric, the mission would be led by Ramesh Rajasingham, a senior official at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the UN coordinator in Azerbaijan, Vladanka Andreeva.
Following the Azerbaijani military operation that took place last week and led to the capitulation of the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 people of Armenian descent living in this region left the enclave for Armenia.
Pope calls for a lasting agreement
This Sunday, during the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to reach an agreement to end the humanitarian crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“These days I have been following the dramatic situation of exiles from Nagorno-Karabakh. I once again call for dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in the hope that the talks between the parties, with the support of the international community, will lead to a lasting agreement that will put an end to the humanitarian crisis,” Francisco said in a new call in the light of the crisis, quoted by the EFE agency.
After last week’s Azerbaijani military operation, which led to the capitulation of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, the enclave was virtually emptied and more than 100,000 Armenians fled to Armenia.
The government of Armenia denounced that Azerbaijan is carrying out “ethnic cleansing”, to which Baku responded that it has not forced Armenians to leave the territory, but insists that those who remain in Nagorno-Karabakh must respect Azerbaijani law and their rights . and obligations.
Source: DN
