NKR rules out release of Askerov and Guliev

After the release of Elnur Guseinzade, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has excluded the possibility of the release or exchange of other Azerbaijani citizens, Shakhbaz Guliev and Dilkham Askerov, who had been convicted for especially grave crimes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Azerbaijani prisoner of war Elnur Guseinzade had served his two-year sentence in the NKR and was released. According to the NKR's General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), he asked to send him not to Azerbaijan, but to a third country. Azerbaijan put him on the wanted list on a charge of treason.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hopes that Armenia will release Dilkham Askerov and Shakhbaz Guliev, Leyla Abdullaeva, the MFA's press secretary, told the "Interfax-Azerbaijan" on February 5.

Artak Nersisyan, the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the NKR's MFA, has commented on the statement of the Azerbaijani MFA, stating that "the Azerbaijan's appeal to Armenia is untenable."

Mr Nersisyan has noted that the released Elnur Guseinzade had committed no grave or especially grave crime in the territory of Artsakh (NKR), while Askerov and Guliev "were found guilty of kidnapping and killing a minor on the basis of national hatred, as well as of a number of other crimes."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 12, 2019 at 06:48 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.