A rally in favor of former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister and businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who was imprisoned earlier this month by Azerbaijani authorities, is taking place in the Armenian city of Yerevan Saturday, Sputnik reported.

According to a Sputnik correspondent, participants in the rally are waving flags of the breakaway territory as well as placards in favor of Vardanyan.

Police and special forces are nearby, and no one has been arrested as of now.

On Thursday, the Sabail District Court of Baku arrested Vardanyan for four months as a preventive measure after he was detained by the Azerbaijani State Border Service during an attempt to leave Nagorno-Karabakh and cross the border into Armenia. The Azerbaijani authorities have charged them with financing terrorism.

On Wednesday, Azerbaijani border guards arrested Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire who headed the region's government from November 2022 until February this year, for financing "terrorism".

The United Nations human rights office has urged Baku to afford Vardanyan and other detainees "full respect and protection," while Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of making "illegal arrests".

The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ceases to exist

The president of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), Samvel Shahramanyan, signed on Thursday a decree that dictates the termination of the existence of the republic he heads, marking a huge blow to ethnic Armenians in general and Pashinyan's government in specific.

Almost 100,417 out of 120,000 people who lived in Nagorno-Karabakh before the recent escalation last week have fled for Armenia, said Armenian government spokeswoman Nazeli Baghdasaryan on Saturday. 

Baghdasaryan told a press briefing that "as of this moment, 100,417 people have arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, 21,043 vehicles have crossed the Hakari Bridge [in Lachin corridor]."  Moreover, she added that the Armenian authorities already registered 81,139 people and allocated temporary housing for 32,200 people.

The mass departure of Nagorno-Karabakh's predominantly Armenian population began last week, shortly after Azerbaijan initiated what it termed "local-level anti-terrorist operations" in the separatist region on September 19.

On September 28, Azerbaijan said it wanted ethnic Armenians to remain in Nagorno-Karabakh after it took full control of the region.

The International Court of Justice announced on Friday that Armenia filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan for racial discrimination against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.