A military court in Baku handed slightly shorter prison sentences to eight other Karabakh Armenians who have been tried together with them. The defendants include three former Karabakh presidents: Arayik Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and Arkadi Ghukasian.
They as well as Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born billionaire and philanthropist, were captured by Azerbaijan right after its September 2023 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia and restored Azerbaijani control over the region. Vardanyan, who is standing a separate trial, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison later this month.
The Azerbaijani court gave life sentences to Harutiunian, Levon Mnatsakanian, a former commander of Karabakh’s army, his ex-deputy Davit Manukian as well as Davit Ishkhanian and Davit Babayan, who served as the unrecognized republic’s parliament speaker and foreign minister respectively. Sahakian and Ghukasian were jailed for 20 years because of being aged above 65. All seven men have denied a long list of war crimes charges levelled against them.
The Azerbaijani authorities have not allowed independent media or observers to cover the trials. Vardanyan charged that they are accompanied by “egregious due process abuses” when he went on hunger strike in prison a year ago.
Siranush Sahakian, a Yerevan-based lawyer representing Armenian prisoners in the European Court of Human Rights, said that with its verdict the Azerbaijani court simply rubber-stamped decisions made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“These verdicts cannot practically hinder or prevent the repatriation of the Armenians [held in Azerbaijan] because this process has never been legal,” Sahakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “The Azerbaijani courts have shown that this issue is highly political and they are incapable of ensuring a fair trial.”
As of Thursday evening, the Armenian government did not react to the prison sentences which came the day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Aliyev held fresh talks in the United Arab Emirates. By contrast, the Armenian Apostolic Church was quick to condemn them and pledge to continue campaigning for the release of all Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.
“Holy Etchmiadzin expresses its support to the Artsakh state figures held hostage, prisoners of war and their families,” read a statement released by the church’s Mother See.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attend an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, February 4, 2026.
Aliyev and Pashinian again claimed to have established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan when they received a UAE peace prize following their talks in Abu Dhabi. Gegham Manukian, an Armenian opposition lawmaker and brother of the jailed Karabakh General Davit Manukian, scoffed at the event.
“There is no other country in the world that has been humiliated in this way and whose government is burying its head in the sand as if everything is alright,” said Manukian.
Pashinian’s government waited for weeks before criticizing the “mock trials” of the former Karabakh leaders a year ago. The Armenian premier claimed in January 2025 that an explicit condemnation would only harm the defendants. His critics insisted that he is simply afraid of angering Baku.
They have since continued to accuse Yerevan of doing little to secure the release of these and other Armenian prisoners. The total number of the prisoners currently stands at 19.
Prospects for their release anytime soon remained uncertain even after the initialing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty in Washington last August. Neither the treaty nor a separate declaration signed by Aliyev and Pashinian at the White House commits Baku to freeing them.
