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Azerbaijan is preparing the ground for military aggression against Armenia and new crimes, claims Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s former ombudsman who currently runs the Tatoyan Foundation.

"Azerbaijan’s objectives with the abduction and unlawful imprisonment of Artsakh leaders, military and state figures:

1) To legitimize its false political theses by making false accusations of terrorism, financing of terrorism, money laundering, illegal armed groups, murders, and other baseless allegations;

2) To legitimize its genocidal policy, hatred and enmity, and to create "legitimate" grounds to advance same;

3) To disassociate and shed itself from up the crimes it has committed: murders, tortures, kidnappings, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, etc…;

4) To bolster the creation of an already underway artificial grounds for military aggression against Armenia and new crimes (for example: testimony obtained through torture and false and farcical criminal proceedings, etc.);

5) To continue attempting to break the spirit of the Armenian people, by insulting national dignity, and keeping the Armenian society in tension, causing people mental suffering," he wrote on Facebook on Friday.

"The release of all of the detainee prisoners abducted and held hostage in Baku is a priority for all of us, regardless of any personal feelings towards any of them: former Artsakh presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Parliament Speaker David Ishkhanyan, former Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan, former Foreign Minister David Babayan, high-ranking military officers, Levon Mnatsakanyan and Davit Manukyan, as well as Armenian soldiers and civilians captured at different times," Tatoyan added.