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Spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan issued a statement on Thursday to condemn the prison sentence imposed against Armenian captive Karen Ghazaryan by an Azerbaijani court.

The full text of the statement is below:

“Sadly, the Azerbaijani authorities, unsatisfied with initiating farce-like court case against Karen Ghazaryan who appeared in the Azerbaijan’s territory under unknown circumstances, went even further and, by conducting the trial in an “accelerated manner,” ruled a sentence of 20 years in prison against our citizen who has apparent health issues.

We condemn the verdict of the Azerbaijani court, ruled in a vivid violation of the international human rights obligations, while the real author of that verdict is the leadership of Azerbaijan.

The real reason behind the state-orchestrated capture of Karen Ghazaryan is not a secret. However, those efforts will not succeed. The rights of the people living in the conflict zone and the international humanitarian law constitute a priority for both the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh.

Moreover, the recently-issued decision of the authorities of Artsakh to free the Azerbaijani serviceman, who had served his proportionate court sentence, attests to the supremacy of the rule of law and the adherence of the Armenian side to the international humanitarian law.

Nevertheless, the murder of a minor on the grounds of ethnic hatred is on a different legal as well as moral plane, especially when we still have a fresh memory of the state-wide glorification of such crimes and their perpetrators. The impunity of the murderer glorified for the crime committed under exactly the same pretext 15 years ago is a daily reminder that such new “heroes” are needed by neither our region nor by the international community.

Armenia will undertake consistent efforts towards defending the rights of its citizen and his freedom.”