Azerbaijan arrests former Nagorno-Karabakh leader

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00:00 It's the first high-profile arrest since the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

00:07 Ruben Vardanyan, a former leader of Nagorno-Karabakh, was arrested by Azerbaijan on Wednesday as

00:12 he attempted to leave the enclave.

00:15 Mr Vardanyan, who headed the separatist government from November 2022 until February, was detained

00:21 as he tried to cross the border into Armenia, as tens of thousands of Armenians have fled

00:26 the region.

00:28 A billionaire and philanthropist, Vardanyan had previously worked as an investments banker

00:33 in Russia.

00:34 The grounds on which he has been arrested are unclear, but the Azerbaijani president

00:38 has indicated that he will seek to prosecute some of the separatists.

00:42 Vardanyan has been handed over to other state agencies after being taken to Baku, according

00:48 to Azerbaijan's border service.

00:51 His arrest comes days after the Azerbaijani president vowed to protect the rights of ethnic

00:55 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, who make up a majority of its population.

01:01 In the light of this statement, some of Baku's residents say they don't understand why people

01:05 are fleeing the enclave.

01:07 "They are leaving the country.

01:12 They are leaving by themselves.

01:15 Our country isn't making them leave there."

01:19 "Those who obey the rules of Azerbaijan can stay.

01:24 Azerbaijan is not a mono-ethnic country like Armenia.

01:28 Azerbaijan is multicultural."

01:30 But Aliyev's promise hasn't allayed fears among ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

01:35 More than a third of the enclave's population have already fled, as Yerevan warned of possible

01:40 ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan, accusations which Baku rejects.

01:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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