A young man in Azerbaijan has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for communicating with an Armenian historian.

The trial in the case of Igbal Abilov, who is accused of “high treason and collaboration with Armenian special services,” has concluded, according to Azerbaijani media.

At the final court session, the verdict was read out, according to which the defendant was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Abilov was arrested by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in July last year.

According to preliminary data, while residing in a third country, he “carried out the instructions of representatives of Armenian special services and participated in activities aimed at inciting interethnic hostility in Azerbaijan.”

The role of the “Armenian special services,” however, was played by an Armenian historian. During the court hearing to select a preventive measure, Abilov's secret Skype conversations with Garnik Asatrian—Head of the Faculty of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University and Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University—were made public.