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The prosecution of former Artsakh army commanders by the Armenian authorities are actually aimed at “discrediting” and “dismantling” the military sought by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, MP Andranik Tevanyan of the opposition Hayastan bloc claims.

The Investigative Committee has indicted Lieutenant-Generals Mikayel Arzumanyan and Jalal Harutyunyan for criminal negligence and abuse of power during the 2020 Artsakh war. Arzumanyan has been remanded into pre-trial custody.

“Nikol [Pashinyan] is fulfilling another demand set forth by Aliyev to force Armenians out of Artsakh,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday. “Arresting military personnel and discrediting the army pursues a much deeper and anti-national goal.”

“As you know, Aliyev demands Artsakh’s demilitarization and warns against restoration of the Armenian army. Yerevan recently informed him that there were no more servicemen of the Armenian armed forces in Artsakh. Now they have embarked on the stage of dismantling the military through discrediting its top brass and creating an atmosphere of fear.

“They are arrested not so much to shift the blame for the defeat on the military, but to smoothly rip apart the army. Charges have been brought against Jalal and others in an effort to discredit the army and form a "public demand" for its disbandment.

"The task is to disarm Artsakh and expel Armenians from the country, which Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev agreed on in Brussels. The latter has already openly announced it,” Tevanyan said.