Wednesday, February 27 2019 15:17

ArmInfo. Armenian citizen Karen Ghazaryan, who was captured in Azerbaijan last July, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Azerbaijani court. The  Azerbaijani media reports this.

To note, Karen Ghazaryan, a resident of the Tavush village of  Berdavan, was charged with attempting to commit a terrorist act in  the territory of Azerbaijan.

Today in the Ganja Grave Crimes Court, the trial of the criminal case  of Ghazaryan has ended. The court sentenced Ghazaryan to 20 years in  prison in a penal institution serving a strict regime.

Ghazaryan was accused under the following articles of the Criminal  Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan:  "Crimes against life and health"  (120-143) - 120.2.12; 120.2.7; 120.2.11; 120.2.5; 120.2.1; "Crimes in  the sector of economic activity" (190-213) - 206.3.2; "Crimes against  public security" (214-233) - 214.2.1; 228.1; 214-3.1; 214.2.3;  "Crimes against the foundations of the constitutional system and the  security of the state" (274-285) - 282.1; 276; "Crimes against the  order of control" (315-326) - 318.2.

To recall, on July 15, Karen Ghazaryan was on the territory of  Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani side declared "preventing attempts of  sabotage penetration", as well as the capture of a soldier Karen  Ghazaryan (b.  1984).

A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan  officially announced that Karen Ghazaryan does not serve and has  never served in the army. However, this did not prevent Azerbaijan  from declaring Ghazaryan a "saboteur" and starting a trial.

The trial of Kazaryan started on November 6, 2018 in Ganja. The trial  against Ghazaryan provoked the indignation of Ghazaryan's relatives.  In this regard, on November 17-18, Ghazaryan's relatives, as well as  his fellow villagers, blocked the road, demanding that the  authorities return Karen Ghazaryan from Azerbaijani captivity.

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, during the meeting  with journalists stated that he is  ready to meet with relatives of  Karen Ghazaryan, who is in  Azerbaijan's captivity. He said that he  received an appeal from the  relatives of Ghazaryan with a request  for a meeting and ordered it to  be organized. 

"My wife visited the family twice. The question never went  unnoticed," Pashinyan said, recalling that another Armenian citizen  Zaven Karapetyan is in Azerbaijan (the official statement about the  capture takes place in July 2017).

Acting Prime Minister said that the Azerbaijani side proposes to   change "all for all".  ''Should we go for it?  And we asked the   families of those killed. During the terrorist infiltration of Hasan   Hasanov, Dilham Askerov (sentenced to life by the NKR court) and  Shahbaz Guliyev (sentenced to 20 years in prison by the NKR court)   two people were killed, including an 18-year-old boy. That is, to   return to Azerbaijan two of Ramil Safarov? I understand and respect   the tragedy of the Ghazarian family. But I am saying directly - it is   incomprehensible to me to block the road to Georgia. That is, is   there something that we could have done and not done? This is a   misunderstanding of the situation. The prime minister and the   government are obliged to think equally about both,",Pashinyan   stressed.