The verdict of Lebanese-Armenian Vicken Euljekjian, who was captured by Azerbaijan in Artsakh and accused of “terrorism” by that country, has been published. Euljekjian was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Baku court on Monday, reports News.az.
Euljekjian is falsely accused of being recruited by Armenia to fight in the Artsakh war, along with false terrorist activities against Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, which was “commended” and “applauded” yesterday for releasing 15 Armenian prisoners-of-war by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the European Union, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, and the OSCE chairperson-in-Office, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, today sentenced Armenian Prisoner-Of-War Vicken Euljekjian to 20 years in prison on charges of “terrorism and illegal border crossing.”
The investigation on the criminal case, initiated by the Main Investigation Department of the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code upon the fact of participation of Vicken Euljekjian, a citizen of the Republic of Lebanon, and others in terrorist activities against the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan as ‘mercenaries’ joined in an organized group in exchange for remuneration, has been completed.
The investigation established that, ‘On September 29, 2020, Euljekjian Vicken Abraham, born in 1979, a citizen of the Lebanese Republic, a resident of Beirut, initially accepted Hovak Kikia’s offer, a citizen of the Republic of Lebanon, to participate in military operations in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a mercenary in exchange for a material reward of $ 2,500. For this purpose, on the same day, with other persons as a member of an organized group, he deliberately crossed the protected state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia outside the checkpoints and arrived in the territories where other mercenaries were also present.’
Vicken Euljekjian and other persons who fought as ‘mercenaries’ in exchange for material rewards participated in terrorist activities against the citizens and the Army of the Republic of Azerbaijan, using illegally obtained firearms, ammunition and spare parts not provided for in the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Vicken Euljekjian was charged under Article 114.3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (participation of a mercenary in a military conflict or military operation), 214.2.1 (when terrorism is committed by a group of persons upon prior conspiracy, an organized group or a criminal organization), 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan) and other articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. By the court decision arrest as a measure of restraint was chosen against him.
