Armenian serviceman arrested on charges of torturing Azerbaijani POWs

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

A Baku court has arrested an Armenian serviceman suspected of torturing Azerbaijani captives during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

The trial at the Baku Military Court chaired by judge Elbay Allahverdiyev considered a suit lodged by the investigative body and satisfied it. As a measure of restraint, the court remanded in custody for four months Armenian citizen Ludwig Mkrtchyan, suspected of torturing Azerbaijani POWs during the occupation of Azerbaijani territories in the early 1990s.

The suspect is charged under Article 113 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code (use of torture, causing physical pain or mental suffering to persons subjected to detention or other restriction of freedom).

Mkrtchyan was captured by the Azerbaijani troops along with several other Armenian servicemen during the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. 

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10 brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it had occupied.