Azerbaijan hands 20-year jail terms to two more Armenian PoWsAugust 2, 2021 - 14:21 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian prisoners of war Lyudvig Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan were sentenced to 20 years in prison by Azerbaijan on Monday, August 2. In a grave violation of the international humanitarian law, Azerbaijan prosecuted Mkrtchyan and Khosrovyan and accused them of allegedly "torturing Azerbaijanis during the First Karabakh War." According to a decision from the Baku military court, the two will spend the first 10 years in a prison, the rest in a maximum security correctional facility. In July, an Azerbaijan court sentenced 39 Armenian prisoners of war to six years in prison, finding them guilty of "illegally crossing the border and weapons possession." Earlier in July, 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. Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. Partner news | Ucom Celebrates Telecommunication Day May 17 commemorates the founding of the International Telecommunication Union on May 17, 1865. Armenian, Azerbaijani heads of parliament meet in Switzerland President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Border residents overnight on highway to protest Armenia’s Residents of Kirants continue to express outrage over the government’s decision to cede land to Azerbaijan. Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. |