U.S. Dept. of State calls for release of Azeri Saboteurs jailed in Karabakh

U.S. Dept. of State calls for release of Azeri Saboteurs jailed in Karabakh –

The U.S. Department of State has called for the release of two Azerbaijanis who are in prison in Nagorno-Karabakh after being convicted on murder and sabotage charged last year. 

Speaking at a daily press briefing on Monday, Spokesperson Jen Psaki reiterated Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland’s earlier statement urging the relevant authorities to make a “humanitarian gesture” and hand over the “prisoners”, Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Quliyev, to Azerbaijan.

“Such humanitarian gestures have been shown to reduce tensions and build trust between the sides. So that’s what she [Nuland] was referring to,” she said.

Late last year a court in Nagorno-Karabakh sentenced Askerov for life. Quliev was convicted to 22 years in prison for spying and state border infiltration, illegal use of arms and arm supplies, kidnapping and murder.

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh effectively refused to consider the release of the convicted saboteurs after Nuland made the appeal during her visit to Yerevan on February 18.