Azerbaijan is extorting testimonies against Russian peacekeepers from Armenian prisoners of war, and these ‘testimonies’ were made public during a sham trial against Armenian prisoners of war.

Alongside this, the Azerbaijani authorities disregard their direct commitments and are detaining prisoners of war and civilians. Azerbaijan is doing this to have additional leverages for repressing the Armenian side, that is, to demand mine maps or the pullout of troops or to present other demands. Now the Azerbaijani authorities have decided to use the Armenian captives for anti-Russian propaganda.

“On June 29, the court hearing over the case of 14 Armenian servicemen captured in December of last year continued in the Court of Heavy Crimes in Baku.

***

In particular, accused on trial Gevorg Asertyan said on 27 November 2020 his group was brought from the military registration office of Gyumri to Lachin in buses. In Lachin, Deputy Colonel Arsen Ghazaryan talked to the Russian peacekeepers, and the latter allowed the bus to pass without being checked, the accused on trial said.

***

Volodya Hakobyan, another member of the group, also said he had traveled from Gyumri to Lachin and the Russian peacekeepers had allowed them to enter. He reiterated the testimony of the serviceman before him, stating that he had only been at the military posts for a few days, after which he was ordered to come down and was captured. “We were 60 in number, and we surrendered by dropping our weapons,” he said.

***

Mkrtich Minasyan, another accused on trial, said the Russian peacekeepers were the ones who let them enter Lachin, and an Armenian officer had ordered them to seize posts in the mountains. Yuri Karapetyan and other accused on trial gave similar testimonies,” Turan reported.