Nagorno-Karabakh Official Stricken
The Communist Party leader from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh had a heart attack Thursday while attending the party conference in Moscow, his fellow delegates said.
Genrikh Pogosyan, who took over the leadership of the region when his predecessor was fired in February, collapsed and was taken to a hospital, the delegates said.
They disclosed the incident while explaining why no delegates from Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region populated mainly by ethnic Armenians but part of Azerbaijan, were on an Azerbaijani panel that briefed reporters after the conference session.
Pogosyan, an ethnic Armenian born in the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of Stepanakert in 1931, was recovering, they added, but gave no further details.
Pogosyan has been under intense pressure during the last few months as his mostly Armenian constituents have been striking and demonstrating for reunification with Armenia, which ruled Nagorno-Karabakh before 1923.
At least 35 people have been killed in ethnic unrest in Azerbaijan since February.
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