Samvel Babayan deprived of his NKR's citizenship
Samvel Babayan, a former Defence Minister, has demanded explanations from law enforcement bodies after he knew that he had been deprived of his citizenship of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February 2019, Samvel Babayan announced his intention to run for the presidency of the NKR.
On November 28, 2017, the court found Samvel Babayan, the former head of the Ministry of Defence for Nagorno-Karabakh, guilty of involvement in importing the "Igla" MANPADS (man-portable air defence system) into Armenia and sentenced him to six years of imprisonment. The opposition and Samvel Babayan himself called his arrest politically motivated.
On February 25, the NKR's police accepted Mr Babayan's application that is asking to check the circumstances of the deprivation of his citizenship. The outcomes of the check will be made public, an official of the republic's police told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to his own words, Samvel Babayan learned about the deprivation of his citizenship only on February 24. "I was deprived of the NKR's citizenship, although I never submitted such a petition and never said anything about it. On this issue, we are going to court in order to restore [citizenship]," "Radio Azatutyun" quoted the former minister as saying on February 25.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 26, 2019 at 04:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: CK correspondent
![Tumso Abdurakhmanov. Screenshot from video posted by Abu-Saddam Shishani [LIVE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIR3s7AB0Uw](/system/uploads/article_image/image/0001/18460/main_image_Tumso.jpg "Tumso Abdurakhmanov. Screenshot from video posted by Abu-Saddam Shishani [LIVE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIR3s7AB0Uw")