Armenian media: Ex-commander Harutyunyan to serve jail term afterall Case tied to 44-day war dereliction of duty

Former commander of the Armenian occupying forces in Karabakh, Jalal Harutyunyan, will finally serve his prison sentence, according to Armenian media, cited by Caliber.Az.

According to the information, Armenia’s Court of Cassation refused to review the lawyers’ appeal and upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals. As a result, the previously issued sentence of 5.5 years in prison for the general has come into force.

Harutyunyan had earlier been found guilty of negligence under martial law in a high-profile criminal case initiated in 2022, related to certain episodes of the 44-day war. In August 2025, lawyers representing the heirs of Armenian soldiers who died due to Harutyunyan’s negligence claimed that the general had been attempting to evade punishment, deliberately avoiding court documents and skipping hearings to delay the process.

By Khagan Isayev