Karen Avanesyan, one of the last Artsakh residents remaining after the 2023 forced deportation, sentenced to 16 years in prison

Karen Avanesyan, one of the last residents remaining in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh, following the forced displacement in 2023, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, Azerbaijani media reported.

Avanesyan is accused of committing “terrorism and other particularly serious crimes.”

The case relates to an incident on September 14, 2025. According to Azerbaijani reports, Karen Avanesyan, born in 1967, allegedly “attempted to approach the venue of an event in Stepanakert with a self-loading rifle,” then “opened irregular fire from an automatic firearm at approaching police officers” and subsequently “threw grenades at them.”