Armenian critics of peace deal released from custody

YEREVAN: Armenia has freed prominent opposition figures charged with staging violent unrest over a peace deal with Azerbaijan that ended weeks of deadly fighting over a disputed province, lawyers said Friday.
Prosecutors have charged the 10 politicians with organizing “illegal violent mass disorder” that followed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to sign the peace accord over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The opposition figures were arrested Thursday and face 10 years in prison. They include Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, and Ishkhan Sagateyan of the Dashnaktsutyun party.
A court in the capital Yerevan ruled Thursday that “Tsarukyan’s detention was illegal,” his lawyer Erem Sarkisian wrote on Facebook. “He was released from custody.”
Lawyers of other detained politicians also said their clients were released after courts ruled their detentions lacked legal basis.
Pashinyan announced the Moscow-brokered agreement Tuesday, ending more than six weeks of intense fighting that left more than 1,400 dead and displaced tens of thousands.
Armenia agreed to cede parts of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan as well as other territories it had controlled since the 1990s.
The decision sparked fury in Armenia, where demonstrators stormed and ransacked government buildings.
Thousands have since staged daily demonstrations in Yerevan, demanding Pashinyan’s resignation and the opposition announced a fresh protest on Friday afternoon.
Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan nearly 30 years ago but it has not been recognized internationally, even by Armenia.
Fighting between Azerbaijan and the Armenian separatists erupted on September 27 and persisted despite efforts by France, the United States and Russia to broker three separate cease-fires that collapsed as both sides accused the other of violations.