Third group of 13 Armenian PoWs sentenced to 6 years in prison

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Azerbaijan court on Thursday, July 29 sentenced a third batch of 13 Armenian prisoners of war to six years in prison, finding them guilty of "illegally crossing the border, weapons possession and terrorism offences," Sputnik Azerbaijan reports.

The Baku grave crimes court has so far sentenced 39 Armenian PoWs illegally being held in Azerbaijan to six years in prison. All the 39 men will be deported after serving their prison terms, according to a decision from the court.

Earlier this month, Azerbaijan sentenced 14 members of Armenia’s armed forces to various jail terms, while Viken Euljekjian, an Armenian captive and a citizen of Lebanon, was handed a 20-year jail term in mid-June.

Azerbaijan is refusing to return all Armenian prisoners of war, in violation of the statement on the cessation of hostilities signed by the parties in November 2020. The Armenian side has information about some 200 Armenians still in Azerbaijan’s captivity, but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev claims that persons being kept in Baku are not PoWs, but “terrorists and saboteurs”. At least 19 of the hundreds of Armenian captives have been tortured and killed, according to their lawyers.