Baku Ready to Exchange Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan for Guliyev and Askerov

Baku is prepared to exchange Armenian citizens Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan, currently held in Azerbaijan, for convicted Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Artsakh. This statement was issued by the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons.

“We are ready to exchange Karen Ghazaryan and Arayik Ghazaryan for Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev,” the statement read.

The commission noted that a request regarding the willingness to exchange has been sent to the relevant international organizations on September 11.

It is recalled that Karen Ghazaryan, an Armenian citizen, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Azerbaijan. He appeared at the Azerbaijani border under unexplained circumstances in July 2018, while Azerbaijan considers him a saboteur.

On August 12, around noon, Arayik Ghazaryan, a serviceman born in 2000, left his combat position under unclear circumstances from a military unit stationed in the southeastern direction of the Artsakh Defense Army. Azerbaijan has claimed that the serviceman is in their custody. Violating the norms of international law, Azerbaijan published a photo of the serviceman.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijani citizens Guliyev and Askerov were sentenced in 2014 by the General Jurisdiction Court of Artsakh to 22 years and life imprisonment for the murder of a minor, illegal crossing of the Artsakh border, possession and trafficking of weapons, as well as for the murder of an Armenian army officer.