BAKU. Sept 18 (Interfax) - Baku is prepared to exchange two Armenian prisoners of war held in custody in Azerbaijan for Azerbaijanis convicted in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
"We are prepared to exchange Karen Kazaryan and Araik Kazaryan for Dilgam Askerov and Shakhbaz Guliyev," the Azerbaijani State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons said in a statement.
An appeal on the preparedness for the exchange was sent to relevant international bodies on September 1, the statement said.
Baku has on numerous occasions reiterated its principled stance on the exchange of detainees on the basis of the "all-for-all" principle. This was repeatedly voiced at the meetings of the leaders of the two countries with the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as the meetings of the foreign ministers of the two countries, including during the State Commission's discussions with relevant international organizations, it said.
Azerbaijani servicemen detained Karen Kazaryan in mid-July 2018. He was charged with crimes against Azerbaijan. The investigators forwarded his case to a relevant judicial instance. Araik Kazaryan was detained at the Fizuli section of the Karabakh front on August 12.
Azerbaijani citizen Guliyev and Russian citizen Askerov were given 22 years of imprisonment and a life sentence, respectively, in Stepanakert for murdering a juvenile resident of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), illegally entering the NKR's territory, and reconnaissance activities.