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Vagif Khachatryan, an elderly Artsakh man who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in Baku on Tuesday, fell victim to Azerbaijan’s political games, says Armenia’s former ombudsman Arman Tatoyan.

"Wasn't it obvious to all of us that the Azerbaijani court would not acquit or release 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan?" he wrote on Facebook.

"It was clear, wasn't it, that the so-called judicial process was going to be a show with false evidence and an embodiment of injustice? The Azerbaijani authorities made Vagif Khachatryan another victim of their political games, with the aim of legitimizing their crimes and humiliating the Armenian people.

"Depriving a person of his liberty for 15 years, and keeping him in Baku prison under strict conditions, does not provide guarantees that an elderly citizen of Artsakh with health problems will be able to withstand the atmosphere of Azerbaijani hostility.

"And how many more such innocent citizens (almost everyone) are targeted by Azerbaijan, how long will this impunity prevail? Questions whose solutions, although urgent, but at the moment, unfortunately, there are none.

"One thing is clear: as long as there are armed Azerbaijani servicemen on the roads near the villages and towns of Armenia, our people will continue to be in danger. And the criminal acts of the Azerbaijani side will continue as long as the fascist authorities of that country act in the absence of responsibility," Tatoyan stressed.