Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was the first to announce the release of the Armenian prisoners on social media. He said they were handed over to Armenian authorities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The freed prisoners include Vagif Khachatrian, a former resident of Karabakh who was arrested by Azerbaijani security services in July 2023 as he was escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Armenia for urgent medical treatment. Khachatrian was subsequently tried and sentenced by an Azerbaijani military court to 15 years in prison for allegedly committing war crimes during the 1991-1994 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. The 70-year-old denied the accusations.
Khachatrian was hospitalized late last month following what authorities in Baku described as a sharp deterioration of his health. Pashinian said his current condition seems “satisfactory.”
Also freed was Viken Euljekian, a 46-year-old a native of Lebanon who had moved to Karabakh before the 2020 war. He was detained by Azerbaijani forces outside the Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) on November 10, 2020 hours after a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the six-week war. The two other Armenian prisoners set free on Wednesday were detained in the same area on November 11, 2020.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) described their release as a “practical result of peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
The Armenian Justice Ministry announced, meanwhile, that Armenia handed over to Syria, via neighboring Turkey, the two Syrians serving life sentences handed to them by an Armenian court in 2021. Both men, Muhrab al-Shkheri and Yusef al-Haji, admitted being mercenaries during their trial.
Armenian officials portrayed that as further proof that thousands of Syrians recruited by Turkey fought in Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side for money. The Armenian claims were backed by France and, implicitly, Russia.
The NSS director, Andranik Simonian, reportedly discussed the prisoner swap with Azerbaijani officials during a surprise visit to Baku last September. The Yerevan newspaper Hraparak reported at the time that the Azerbaijani side demanded the release of the two Syrians in response to Simonian’s calls for the release of 10 of at least 23 Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. The NSS did not deny or confirm the report.
Among the Armenians remaining in Azerbaijani captivity are eight former leaders of Karabakh standing trial in Baku on numerous charges strongly denied by them. Azerbaijani prosecutors demanded lengthy prison sentences for them at the end of their trials late last year. The verdicts in those cases are expected to be handed down soon.