- By Marita Moloney
- BBC News
50 minutes ago
Image source: State Border Service of Azerbaijan/Handout via Reu
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Azerbaijan’s State Border Guard released this image on Wednesday showing the detention of Ruben Vardanyan
Azerbaijan has arrested a former leader of Nagorno-Karabakh as he tried to leave the enclave for Armenia, officials say.
Ruben Vardanyan, a businessman who led the separatist government from November 2022 to February, was among thousands who tried to leave the country.
A total of 47,115 ethnic Armenians have now fled Nagorno-Karabakh, which was captured by Azerbaijan last week.
Mr. Vardanyan’s wife requested assistance to ensure his safe release.
“Ruben stood with the people of Arsakh during the ten-month blockade and suffered with them in their fight for survival,” said Veronika Zonabend.
The Azerbaijani border guard said he was taken to the capital Baku and handed over to other government agencies there.
Azerbaijani authorities said they were looking for suspects of “war crimes” and a government source told the Agence France Presse news agency that the country planned to apply an “amnesty to Armenian fighters who laid down their arms in Karabakh.”
“But those who committed war crimes during the Karabakh wars must be handed over to us,” they said.
Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as part of Azerbaijan and was controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades.
Fears of new violence emerged when Azerbaijan implemented an effective blockade of a vital route into the enclave in December 2022.
On September 20, a ceasefire ended 24 hours of fighting. Azerbaijan and Karabakh authorities have begun talks on integrating the enclave into Azerbaijan.
But many of the region’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians fear they have no future in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian prime minister said “ethnic cleansing” had begun in the region.
Karabakh authorities said at least 200 people were killed in last week’s fighting, while Azerbaijan said on Wednesday that 192 of its soldiers had been killed.
Traffic jams have lined the road from Karabakh to Armenia for days, and a BBC team saw families crammed into cars, boots overflowing and roof racks full of belongings.
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Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh drive in a truck to the border village of Kornidzor in Armenia
Western governments have pushed Azerbaijan to allow international monitors into Karabakh to monitor the treatment of the population there.
On Tuesday, Germany became the latest country to join these demands. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for “transparency”.
“It would be a sign of confidence that Azerbaijan takes seriously its commitment to the security and well-being of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh if it allows international observers,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Also on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to ensure “unconditional protection and freedom of movement for civilians.” He also called for “unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called on both sides to respect human rights.