A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced two Armenian soldiers to lengthy prison sentences for trespassing when they crossed into the country for allegedly attempting to supply a group of "saboteurs," a charge that has exacerbated already heightened tensions between the two countries.
On July 7, the Sumgait Court for Grave Crimes sentenced both Harutyun Hovakimian and Karen Ghazarian on July 7 to 11 years and six months in prison for the offenses, which prosecutors said included conspiracy to smuggle firearms and ammunition and "armed terrorism conspiracy."
Armenian officials say the men were "kidnapped" in May after delivering water and food to Armenian Army units guarding the border with Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic solution, and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly 7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all the Armenian-controlled areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era autonomous region, ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers.
Since then, officials have failed to reach a peace deal despite holding several rounds of talks.
In mid-December, Azerbaijani activists began obstructing a road known as the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Yerevan says should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
Baku in April erected a checkpoint along the route, saying it was necessary to control the supply of arms being sent to the region and to end illegal mining operations. It said the road remained open to humanitarian aid, claims Armenia disputes.
Both sides blamed each other for fresh outbursts of violence in recent months.