June 3, 2021 - 13:09 AMT
Case of 14 Armenian PoWs transferred to Baku Grave Crimes Court

The case of 14 Armenian prisoners of war has been transferred to the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, local media report.

Hrach Avagyan, Gegham Serobyan and 12 other Armenian servicemen have been charged with terrorism with the use of firearms, as well as illegal border crossing.

More than 60 people from the Armenian province Shirak were captured by Azerbaijan near the village of Khtsaberd after the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in late 2020. The village was under the Armenian side's control until at least December 12.

So far, more than 70 Armenian PoWs have returned home. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claims that persons still being kept in Baku are not prisoners of war but “terrorists and saboteurs”. Officials and human rights advocates from the Armenian side, however, maintain Azerbaijan is still holding hundreds of people hostage, pledging to submit evidence proving the capture of said persons to international agencies and courts.