The official, who did not want to be identified, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Samvel Shahramanian, the Karabakh president, is personally negotiating with the Azerbaijani side on the issue. He said Shahramanian’s three predecessors -- Arayik Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and Arkadi Ghukasian -- as well as a former Karabakh foreign minister, Davit Babayan, are among those who risk being arrested if they flee to Armenia through the Lachin corridor.
It is not clear whether the issue was on the agenda of a second meeting of Azerbaijani and Karabakh representatives held in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh later in the day.
Babayan, who is now an adviser to Shahramanian, said on Thursday that Baku wants to arrest him. He said he will turn himself in because he does not want to jeopardize the evacuation of other Karabakh Armenians remaining in the region. Babayan’s whereabouts were not known as of Friday afternoon.
Nagorno Karabak - Former and current Karabakh leaders attend Christmas Mass in the Stepanakert cathedral, January 6, ,2023.
Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born tycoon who served as Karabakh premier from November 2022 to February 2023, was arrested at the Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor on Wednesday. Vardanyan was taken to Baku to face a string of serious criminal charges.
According to media reports, a number of other former Karabakh officials have also been caught by Azerbaijani security services since then. Karabakh sources confirmed on Friday that they include Levon Mnatsakanian, a general who commanded Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army from 2015-2018,
The Azerbaijani authorities announced shortly afterwards the arrest of Davit Manukian, another Karabakh general who used to be the Defense Army’s deputy commander. They said Manukian will be prosecuted on “terrorism” charges. His brother, Gegham Manukian, is a prominent Armenian opposition politician.
Citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the Reuters reported on Thursday that Baku has drawn up a list of about 200 prominent Karabakh Armenians subject to arrest and prosecution. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to grant the Karabakh Armenians “broad amnesty” when they spoke by phone earlier this week.
Baku is currently gradually restoring full control over Karabakh as a result of the Azerbaijani army’s September 19 offensive. A Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the fighting on September 20 commits it to permitting Karabakh’s 120,000 or so ethnic Armenian residents to leave their homeland. More than 91,000 of them have taken refuge in Armenia as of Friday afternoon, according to the Armenian government.