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The Foreign Ministry of Armenia on Tuesday denounced the criminal prosecution of the Artsakh president and Armenia’s former presidents by Azerbaijan. The full text of its statement is provided below.

"Recently,  it was reported that the Azerbaijani authorities have initiated criminal prosecution and issued an international arrest warrant against President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, former Presidents of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan.

We strongly condemn Azerbaijan's criminal prosecutions based on false and Armenophobic grounds, as well as such abuse of the procedures of international law enforcement.

Instead of undertaking efforts towards detecting the persons involved in the extrajudicial killings of civilians in Artsakh and in the forcible disappearances of Armenian prisoners of war, or revealing criminal networks of transfers of terrorist fighters to the region, Azerbaijan pursues its years long policy of Armenophobia with new momentum, attempting to provoke further escalations in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan bordering areas.

We urge Azerbaijan to undertake steps towards finding constructive solutions, protecting the rights and welfare of all the peoples of the region.

At the same time, we reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to undertake efforts for the establishment of peaceful coexistence and mutual tolerance in the region."