DETAINED EX-KARABAKH LEADER ON HUNGER STRIKE: SON, LAWYER

A former top Russian banker detained in Azerbaijan after leading the Armenian separatist administration in Nagorno-Karabakh has gone on hunger strike, his son and lawyer said on Friday. 

Ruben Vardanyan renounced his Russian nationality and moved to the ethnic Armenian region in 2022, where he headed the separatist government from November 2022 to February 2023.

Azerbaijan detained him after seizing control of the breakaway region in a one-day offensive in late September last year, charging him with financing "terrorism" and other crimes.

"My father... has been on hunger strike since April 5 to demand the release of all Armenian prisoners," his son David Vardanyan told AFP, adding he was "very worried" about his health. 

Vardanyan's Russian lawyer Victoria Burkovskaya, who returned from Azerbaijan on Thursday, said her client had started the strike in early April and it was not clear whether he had access to his prison's medical service. 

Contacted by AFP, the Azerbaijani state security services said they had "no knowledge of a hunger strike".

Vardanyan co-founded and was chief executive of the Moscow investment bank Troika Dialog. He and his relatives are worth $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.

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2024-04-19T16:15:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd