Lost Azerbaijani citizen imprisoned by Armenia for 11 years

The Armenian authorities have demonstrated once again their intention to provoke a confrontation in post-war relations with Azerbaijan. An Azerbaijani citizen, serviceman Agshin Babirov, who got lost along with his colleague Hussein Akhundov on the conditional Armenian-Azerbaijani border on April 13 and was captured by Armenian security forces, was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.

According to the verdict, Agshin Babirov, who happened to be in Armenia, was convicted of "illegal entry" into the republic. Since Babirov got lost during military service, the Armenian court added charges of "transportation of weapons and ammunition" to him.

Court proceedings are still underway against Hussein Akhundov, the Armenian side wants to charge him with murder.

Let us remind you that both Azerbaijani soldiers were beaten during the detention, and the beating of Hussein Akhundov was filmed on a mobile phone and published on the Internet. In the video, an immobilized citizen of Azerbaijan is kicked, including in the face. This incident is the first in a series of self-disclosure acts by the Armenian authorities, demonstrating for a month that Armenia is the aggressive side in relations with Azerbaijan.

It is noteworthy that it took less than a month to hold the so-called "trial" of Agshin Babirov. Having sentenced him to a long term of imprisonment, Yerevan made the Azerbaijani citizen a hostage of Armenian plans for political bargaining with Baku. It is to be expected that soon Nikol Pashinyan's regime will offer to exchange Babirov for Armenian militants serving a sentence in Azerbaijan for terrorist crimes.

It is important to emphasize that Baku always returns Armenian soldiers and officers who accidentally got lost on the conditional border to Armenia, thus demonstrating, justice, humanity and the determination to a peaceful settlement of post-war relations. Meanwhile, Yerevan has chosen the path of violence and hostility.