Azerbaijan seeks to exchange Armenian captives with its saboteurs
Azerbaijani authorities are ready to exchange two Armenian prisoners of war with two Azerbaijani saboteurs, Interfax reported, citing the country’s State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons.
“We stand ready to exchange Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan with Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev,” the commission said in a statement.
Azerbaijan informed the respective international structures about its readiness of exchange in a call on September 11.
The statement cites the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine on September 7 this year and considers it an “act of humanism, reaffirming its commitment to the speedy release of captives between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
Karen Ghazaryan was detained by Azerbaijani troops in July 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years of prison on charges of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan, while Arayik Ghazaryan was detained after ending up in Azerbaijani territory in still unclear circumstances on 12 August 2019.
Azerbaijani citizen Dilgam Asgarov was sentenced to life in prison by an Artsakh court, while Shahbaz Guliyev got 22 years in prison on charges of killing a teenager, illegally crossing the Artsakh border and spying.