ICRC reps visit detained Karabakh separatists in Azerbaijan’s Baku

Head of the PR department of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative office in Azerbaijan Ilaha Huseynova has said that ICRC representatives visited individuals of Armenian descent again in October 2024 who are in custody in Azerbaijan. 

One-on-one meetings were held with the detainees, and conditions were arranged for them to connect with their families, Huseynova told Caliber.Az. 

As part of its mandate, the ICRC assesses the treatment of detainees, the conditions of their confinement, and facilitates communication with their families during visits. According to ICRC procedures, observations and recommendations regarding these visits are provided only by the detaining party.

The former so-called "presidents" of the separatist regime, namely, Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan, along with the former "foreign minister" David Babayan, former "speaker of parliament" David Ishkhanian, and generals Levon Mnatsakanyan and David Manukyan, as well as Ruben Vardanyan, who held the position of "state minister" in the separatist regime in Karabakh, were detained by the representatives of the Azerbaijani State Security Service and taken to Baku.

Azerbaijan detained former separatist leaders - “ex-presidents” of Karabakh clan, Arayik Harutyunyan (2020-2023), Arkadi Ghukasyan (1997-2007) and Bako Sahakyan (2007-2020), David Ishkhanyan on October 3, 2023. Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian tycoon who fueled separatism financially and politically, was the first criminal junta member detained by the servicemen of Azerbaijan’s border service on September 27. 

During the 44-day second Armenia-Azerbaijan war in 2020, Yerevan-born Vardanyan was in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan talking about his financial support to the separatist regime in the Azerbaijani territory. Later in September 2022, he moved illegally to Karabakh after renouncing his Russian citizenship. 

The suspects have been charged with Articles 214.2.1, 214.2.2, 214.2.3 (terrorism using firearms, explosives and devices by an organised group repeatedly), 214-1 (financing of terrorism), 214-3.2 (organising training for the purpose of terrorism), 228.3 (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation and possession of firearms, their complete parts, ammunition, explosives and devices by an organised group in multiple occasions) and 279.3 (creating armed units and groups not provided for by legislation and participating in their activities) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

By Naila Huseynova