Azernews.Az

Three citizens of Armenia have been charged with spying for Azerbaijan, the country’s long-time foe, Kavkazskiy Uzel news website reported, citing Armenian law enforcement agencies.

Armenian secret service bodies and prosecutor-general’s office reportedly said that Karen Megrabyan, who was arrested on July 31, and two others, named Matevosyan and Chtrkyan, were passing on information and video recordings about the military potential of Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenia-occupied region of Azerbaijan, to the Azerbaijani secret service. They are also said to have tried to coerce residents of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian defense ministry officers to engage in these activities.

Investigators claimed that while in Turkey the three Armenian nationals had been offered cooperation with Azerbaijani intelligence bodies. Panorama.am website reported that three others were allegedly aware of their spying activity, but did not report it to the law enforcement.

The three Armenian citizens’ criminal cases were sent to court early last week.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a fragile ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by US, Russian and French mediators, have been largely fruitless so far.