Former political figures and officials of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians maintained an unrecognised breakaway statelet for three decades until Azerbaijan restored military control in 2023, attend a court hearing in Baku, Azerbaijan, February 5, 2026, in this screen grab taken from a video.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
An Azerbaijani military court on Thursday (February 5, 2026) imposed terms of up to life imprisonment against Armenian separatist leaders charged in a war crimes trial, state media reported.
Azerbaijan’s seizure of its breakaway region of Karabakh in 2023 ended nearly three decades of control by Armenian separatists, prompting the enclave’s entire ethnic Armenian population — more than 100,000 people — to flee.
After regaining control of the disputed region, Baku arrested several separatist leaders on war crimes charges. Armenia has demanded their release.
Araik Harutyunyan — who led Karabakh’s separatist government from May 2020 to September 2023 — “was sentenced to life imprisonment by Baku’s military court”, state news agency Azertag said.
He was convicted of “crimes including waging an aggressive war, genocide, terrorism and other offences” linked to Armenia’s decades-long control of the mountainous enclave, the agency said.
Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan — who served as Karabakh’s separatist presidents from 1997 to 2007, and from 2007 to 2020 respectively — were “sentenced to 20 years in prison, as a life term could not be imposed because they had reached the age of 65.”
Other convicts included former Karabakh parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, former Karabakh foreign minister Davit Babayan and major general in Armenia’s armed forces, Davit Manukyan, who were all sentenced to life imprisonment on identical charges.
Two trials — one for 15 former officials, another for the region’s billionaire former leader, Ruben Vardanyan — opened in Baku in January 2025.
Verdicts for the other defendants in the case were expected later Thursday. Hearings have largely been held behind closed doors, with access limited to state media.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has said it will pursue “all possible steps,” including international legal action, to protect the rights of those standing trial in Baku.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a peace agreement last year, mediated by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Published – February 05, 2026 09:14 pm IST
