Former Karabakh leaders blame Armenian leadership for war

Three former presidents of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh told investigators and the court in Baku that all orders and instructions regarding military actions against Azerbaijan in different years came to them from Yerevan.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, the Baku Military Court is considering the criminal case of 15 former leaders and residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. They have been charged under more than 20 articles, and the case contains 2,548 episodes. At the hearing on June 12, former commander of the Karabakh army Levon Mnatsakanyan told what mines were installed in the areas around Karabakh during different years of the conflict. In July, victims spoke at the hearings - they told how they were captured by the Armenian military and subjected to torture.

At the next hearing on the case of the former leaders of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on July 28, the testimonies of the accused Arkady Ghukasyan, Arayik Harutyunyan and Bako Sahakyan, which they gave during the preliminary investigation, were announced.

Ghukasyan, who was the president of the unrecognized republic in 1997-2007, said that he himself made decisions on appointments to government positions, but the post of Minister of Defense of Nagorno-Karabakh was an exception: the head of the Ministry of Defense was appointed or dismissed only after coordination with the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the President of Armenia. According to Ghukasyan, weapons and ammunition were supplied to the region exclusively by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, and the military department of the unrecognized republic actually acted as an integral part of it, Azertaj reports.

Arayik Harutyunyan, who headed the unrecognized republic in 2020-2023, told the investigation that during the first Karabakh war and after it, armed forces from Armenia were stationed in Karabakh. In April 2016, military formations subordinate to Armenia fought against Azerbaijani troops, and during the war in the fall of 2020, the Armenian Defense Ministry and the Chief of the General Staff of Armenia gave all military orders and instructions.

According to Harutyunyan, the armed forces of the unrecognized republic did not possess Tochka-U, Smerch, and Scud missile systems - such weapons were delivered from Armenia and controlled by Armenian military units. Orders to launch ballistic missiles at populated areas and facilities in Azerbaijan were also given from Armenia, Harutyunyan insists. The text of the post that Harutyunyan posted on social media on October 4, 2020 - about the missile strikes on Ganja, allegedly carried out on his orders - was given to him by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Minval writes.

Bako Sahakyan, who served as president of Nagorno-Karabakh from 2007 to 2020, told investigators that he had been an activist in the Karabakh movement since 1988, and in 1990 he joined the self-defense forces, after which he began his military career. According to Sahakyan, during the first Karabakh war, the hostilities were led by the chairman of the committee of the self-defense forces, and later the defense army of Nagorno-Karabakh Serzh Sargsyan, as well as Vazgen Sargsyan and Vazgen Manukyan, who were the defense ministers of Armenia. At that time, the overall leadership was carried out by the chairman of the Defense Committee Robert Kocharyan and the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

The next hearing on the case of the former Karabakh leaders is scheduled for August 29.

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