Former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army receives 5.5-year sentence

Former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, Lieutenant General Jalal Harutyunyan, will serve a prison sentence of 5 years and 6 months in a designated correctional facility.

On September 26, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeals filed by Harutyunyan and his lawyer Apresyan against the June 18, 2025 ruling of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The ruling was made public by Panorama.am .

The court found that the appellate ruling did not involve procedural violations significant enough to alter the case outcome or undermine justice.

The Syunik General Jurisdiction Court had previously found Harutyunyan guilty under Part 3 of Article 376 of Armenia’s 2003 Criminal Code (corresponding to Part 3 of Article 550 in the current Code), sentencing him to 5 years and 6 months in prison. The Court of Appeals upheld that verdict.

Harutyunyan was convicted over the deaths of 20 Armenian servicemen on October 12, 2020, during the 44-day war. The soldiers were killed near the village of Juvarlu in the Fizuli region after reportedly receiving a flawed command that led them into an Azerbaijani ambush. Seven others were wounded, and the military unit was subsequently captured by Azerbaijani forces.

Relatives of the fallen soldiers claim Harutyunyan tried to delay proceedings until the statute of limitations expired, which it is set to do in a few days, on October 12.