Any kind of persecution or trial of prisoners is a gross violation of international law. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, on Thursday wrote this on Facebook.

"Yesterday, on June 2, the court session was held in Azerbaijan on the criminal case grossly violating the rights of the Armenian side’s captives Lyudvik Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan, which completely violates international law.

First, all servicemen and civilians of the Armenian side illegally being kept in Azerbaijan are captives as status (…).

Moreover, the Azerbaijani authorities are launching persecutions against the captives of the Armenian side, in fact, on the basis of their so-called ‘confession.’

It is obvious that in such conditions in Azerbaijan, they are kept obviously unlawfully (…).

(…). Moreover, in these conditions, the captives’ right to life and a number of other vital rights are clearly endangered.

Therefore, the trials of Armenian captives held illegally in Azerbaijan completely contradict the foundations of international law and grossly violate the rights of captives and their families, politicize humanitarian issues.

Therefore, all the captives on the Armenian side must be released immediately and returned to the Homeland without any preconditions,” Tatoyan added, in particular.