Azeri court hands 15-year jail term to Artsakh resident

A district court in Azerbaijan on Friday sentenced Artsakh civilian Rashid Beglaryan to 15 years in prison in a sham trial.

Azerbaijani media reports suggest that the man will serve the first 5 years of his sentence in an ordinary regime prison and the remainder in a strict regime colony. The prosecutor had requested a 17-year jail term for Beglaryan.

Beglaryan, 62, was arrested by Azerbaijan’s border guards after straying into an Azerbaijani-held territory near the Artsakh village of Aghavno on August 1, 2023.

He was charged with involvement in the so-called “Khojaly massacre” and other “war crimes” in 1992.

Azerbaijani media alleged that Beglaryan pleaded guilty to all the charges and asked the court for "mild punishment".