YEREVAN. – The Azerbaijani authorities will continue their attempts to speculate on the situation over Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, spokesperson for Karabakh president Davit Babayan said.

According to David Babayan, in 2018 it is possible to continue speculation on this topic. This is due to the fact that Azerbaijan will hold presidential elections next year, Babayan said in response to the Armenian News-NEWS.am request to comment on the statement by Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev.

Next year Azerbaijan will mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of the artificially created state of Azerbaijan, the 100th anniversary of the Karabakh conflict, the 30th anniversary of the last phase of this problem, the 95th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev.

“The authorities' desire to divert society from real social problems, and will speculate on the mater,” Babayan assured.

At the same time, he reminded that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the representatives of the ICRC, and the Azerbaijani side know that these persons are kept in normal conditions, they are serving their sentences for the crimes they committed, and the trial was open.

Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev (born in 1968), Dilgam Askerov  (born in 1960), and Hasan Hasanov—who was killed by the Armenian armed forces while rendering these saboteurs ineffective—had illegally crossed the NKR state border on June 29, 2014, and they were armed with weapons and ammunition. On July 4, 2014, they had kidnapped and subsequently murdered Karabakh citizen Smbat Tsakanyan, 17, whose body was found on July 15, 2014, and with gunshot wounds, in a forest at the Shahumyan Region.

On December 29, 2014, the First Instance General Jurisdiction Court of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic sentenced Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison.