Azeri authorities have detained David Manukyan, identified as the former deputy commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Army, according to official releases from state security channels. The detention, which occurred recently, has been linked to a range of alleged crimes cited by the authorities, including terrorist offenses, possession of illegal firearms and ammunition, and the procurement, storage, and transport of weapon parts and equipment. Additional charges reference the formation of armed groups and illegal border crossing into Azerbaijan. These details were announced by the competent agencies as part of a broader legal case against him.
The arrest followed a court decision that imposed a preventive measure of detention. This development comes in the wake of prior moves by Azerbaijani authorities against figures connected to Nagorno-Karabakh leadership, including an arrest of Ruben Vardanyan, who acts as an adviser to the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, earlier in the timeline.
On September 19, Azerbaijani officials declared that a local operation was underway in Karabakh, framed as a decisive step to curb large-scale provocations, disarm Armenian units, and facilitate the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the region. A day later, negotiations facilitated by Russian peacekeepers yielded a ceasefire agreement, allowing for the potential withdrawal of Nagorno-Karabakh forces from the unrecognized republic’s territory under terms still being interpreted by the parties involved.
Subsequently, on September 28, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, Samvel Shahramanyan, issued a decree stating that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic would cease to exist by January 1, 2024, marking a formal dissolution of the unrecognized state entity in the regional framework. The Russian Foreign Ministry has indicated a preference for returning to diplomacy as the primary means of resolving the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, signaling a shift toward political channels and dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. [citation: official statements and regional monitoring summaries]