On May 14, lawyer Roman Yeritsyan announced on his Facebook page that Samvel Shahramanyan, the separatist President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, signed a new decree in Yerevan declaring the earlier decree on the dissolution of Karabakh, issued on September 26, 2023, as invalid.
Yeritsyan explained that many people were aware of the motives behind Shahramanyan’s original decision to dissolve what he called the second Armenian state but argued that no official, including the head of state, possessed the authority to dissolve a state by decree. He added that despite the fact that the September 2023 decree never legally came into force, various societal groups exploited it by accusing Shahramanyan of dismantling Karabakh. Furthermore, criminal cases were launched in Armenia against several officials, including Karabakh community heads and members of the Council of Elders, on the grounds that their powers had ceased and any exercise of authority by them was criminally punishable.
To address public concerns over the alleged dissolution of Karabakh and prevent further speculation, Yeritsyan reported that Shahramanyan had, after relocating to Yerevan, issued a new decree, numbered 659-N, formally invalidating the previous one. According to Yeritsyan, Shahramanyan also notified the unrecognized Republic of Karabakh’s authorities about this decision via an official letter. While Yeritsyan emphasized that neither decree held legal validity—as both violated Karabakh’s Basic Law and other superior legal provisions and had not entered into force—he still published the text of the latest decree, urging the public to cease discussions about Karabakh’s dissolution.