Armenian football players detained at the Lachin border post have been arrested

Baku/28.08.23/Turan: Three young Karabakh Armenians detained by Azerbaijani border guards have been released from criminal prosecution. However, they were subjected to an administrative penalty in the form of 10 days of arrest, after which they will be expelled from Azerbaijan.

As stated in the message of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan, the criminal case has been initiated due to Armenian football players disrespectful actions towards the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the articles 283.2.3 (Inciting national, racial, social, or religious hatred and enmity committed by organized group) and 324 (Violation of the National Flag or the State Emblem of the Republic of Azerbaijan), the investigation was entrusted to Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. (link: https://genprosecutor.gov.az/az/post/4644)

Due to sustainable suspicions, it was decided to involve the citizens of the Republic of Armenia - Alen Sargsyan, born in 2001, Vahe Hovsepyan, born in 2003, and Levon Grigoryan as accused persons under the mentioned articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, since their whereabouts were unknown at the time, an international arrest warrant was issued by the court.

As a result of the conducted search measures, on August 28, the mentioned individuals were detained by the military personnel of the State Border Service at the Lachin border crossing point of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border.

Detained individuals have been provided with their defense rights, and during the interrogation, they sincerely expressed remorse for their actions and pledged not to engage in such activities in the future.

Considering the age of the accused individuals, their sincere remorse, and compliance with the requirements of procedural legislation, the principle of humanism has been applied, and the criminal prosecution against them has been terminated.

Additionally, despite the fact that the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Information, Informatization, and Protection of Information" prohibits posting information that openly calls for national, racial, or religious hatred and enmity, these individuals, having filmed their actions on video, posted this content on the "YouTube" channel and other Internet resources. In connection with these actions, administrative proceedings were initiated under Article 388-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses by the relevant decision of the Prosecutor General's Office. By the court's decision, administrative arrest for ten days was imposed on the individuals.

Following the execution of the administrative detention sentence, these individuals will be expelled from the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.-0-