Azerbaijan's State Security Service has apprehended four former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, the region previously under ethnic Armenian control, the Azerbaijani Press Agency (APA) reports.
These individuals have been transported to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, as reported by the Armenian state news agency Armenpress, three other former leaders of Karabakh have safely reached Armenia. Azerbaijan gained control of Nagorno-Karabakh in a swift military operation on September 20, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian control, and has pledged to prosecute the separatist leadership, accusing them of influencing the local population negatively.
In the aftermath of these developments, nearly all of Karabakh's approximately 120,000 residents have fled to Armenia out of safety concerns. Azerbaijan's authorities have detained Ruben Vardanyan, the former head of Karabakh's government, and Levon Mnatsakanyan, the former commander of Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist army, at border checkpoints. APA reported on October 3 that three former self-declared presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arkady Gukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Araik Arutyunyan, along with former parliamentary speaker David Ishkhanyan, have been taken into custody.
On the other hand, former state minister Artur Arutyunyan, former interior minister Karen Sarkisyan, and the former head of Karabakh's security service, Ararat Melkunyan, all entered Armenia on October 3, as per Artur Arutyunyan's statement to Armenpress. Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but it has functioned as a breakaway ethnic Armenian entity since the 1990s following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
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