Two Armenians receive lengthy prison terms for torturing Azerbaijani POWs
By Aisha Jabbarova
A court in Baku today sentenced two Armenians to 20-year imprisonment each for torturing Azerbaijani captives and committing other crimes during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s.
The defendant Ludwig Mkrtichyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan will serve the first 10 years of their prison term in a general regime colony, and the second 10 years in a strict regime colony.
The two men have been charged under the Criminal Code’s Articles 113 (torture), 115.2 (violation of war laws and customs), 279.1 (creation of armed formations or groups not provided by law), 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan) and other articles of the Criminal Code.
Investigation launched by Azerbaijan’s Military Prosecutor’s Office has revealed that Mkrtychyan tortured an Azerbaijani citizen taken hostage on July 12, 1991, and illegally detained him about 17 days in Ballija forest near the town of Khojaly.
He also participated in the activities of armed groups consisting of Armenians who arrived from Armenia, as well as living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The investigation also established that Mkrtychyan at various times beat and tortured 11 captured Azerbaijani citizens in the territory of the Khojavand and Agderе districts, in the Shusha prison and in Yerevan, and also shot a serviceman of one of the military units.
Mkrtychyan was detained on October 20, 2020 in the territory of the Malikjanli village of the Fuzuli district by the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.
Another defendant tortured five Azerbaijanis during their captivity and subjected them to cruel and inhumane treatment, according to the results of investigation.
Khosrovyan was detained by Azerbaijani servicemen on October 3, 2020 while conducting reconnaissance operations in the territories of Azerbaijan.