TBILISI/BAKU, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan has released four Armenian prisoners arrested during wars between the two countries in 2020 and 2023, Armenia said on Wednesday, in a further sign of normalising ties between the long-standing foes.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on the Telegram messaging app that all four men were in satisfactory health and were headed for the capital Yerevan after being released by Azerbaijani authorities at the Khakari Bridge.
The four had been serving prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years for crimes including genocide, espionage and weapons smuggling.
Three of the men had been detained in the aftermath of a 44-day war in 2020, in which Azerbaijan was victorious. The fourth man, Vagif Khachaturyan, was arrested in July 2023.
The two countries were at war for nearly four decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region within Azerbaijan that had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades until Baku took back full control in 2023. Nearly all of Karabakh’s roughly 100,000 ethnic Armenians then fled to Armenia.
Yerevan and Baku reached a U.S.-brokered peace agreement last August, though major hurdles remain to its formal signing, including a demand by Azerbaijan that Armenia change its constitution.
Azerbaijan is still seeking sentences of up to life for 15 ethnic Armenian ex-leaders and officials from Nagorno-Karabakh, who were charged with war crimes, terrorism and forcible seizure of power in the aftermath of Baku’s 2023 offensive.
Another former Karabakh official, Ruben Vardanyan, is being tried separately and faces 42 charges including terrorism. Authorities are seeking a life sentence.
Separately, Armenia’s justice ministry said on Wednesday it had released two Syrian citizens, Yousef Alaabet al-Hajji and Muhrab Muhammad al-Shkhari, who it said had been serving life sentences. It did not say why they had been jailed.
The men were released back to Syria via Turkey, the ministry said, without providing further details.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou and Nailia Bagirova; Additional reporting by Maya Gebeily; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Gareth Jones)
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