The group members had crossed the border following the last year’s war and faced charges that include terrorism, border violation and other grave crimes.
A court in Baku today handed down short prison terms to 14 Armenian soldiers who had crossed the Azerbaijani border and were initially faced terrorism and sabotage charges.
The group members were detained after illegally crossing the Azerbaijani territory in December last year, after the signing of the November 10 peace deal that ended the war between the two countries.
Twelve of the group members were sentenced to six months in jail. The state prosecutor had earlier asked that the men be sentenced to two years in jail. The defendants have been under arrest for more than 6 months since their detention in December and are likely to be released soon and extradited to Armenia.
The other two defendants received four-year-sentences each, thus their prison terms were reduced from five years.
The defendants testified that they were forced by their superiors to cross the Azerbaijan border, stressing that they would face up to 12 years prison term for refusing to serve in the army.
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service detained 60 Armenian soldiers near liberated Hadrut settlement in anti-terrorist operation in December. The soldiers are being tried in four separate groups on charges including terrorism, illegal formation of an armed group, illegal armed possession, border violation.
Armenia considers all detained soldiers as prisoners of war, while Azerbaijan has stated that they do not fall under this category as they crossed the border after the signing of the peace deal. Azerbaijan in June exchanged 15 Armenian prisoners for maps of 97,000 landmines in the liberated Aghdam city. Yerevan had earlier denied the existence of such maps.
