The U.S. Department of State has called for the return of the Azerbaijani saboteurs convicted in Nagorno Karabakh last year.

According to Tert.am, speaking at the daily press briefing on Monday, Feb 23 spokesperson Jen Psaki reiterated Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland’s earlier statement urging the relevant authorities to make a humanitarian gesture and hand over the 'prisoners', Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Quliyev, to Azerbaijan.

“Such humanitarian gestures have been shown to reduce tensions and build trust between the sides. So that’s what she [Nuland] was referring to,” she said.

A court in Nagorno Karabakh sentenced Askerov for life. Quliev was convicted to 22 years in prison for spying and state border infiltration, illegal use of arms and arm supplies, kidnapping and murder.