Newspaper: Custody of Karabakh leaders in Azerbaijan prison to be extended?

Hraparak daily off Armenia writes as follows: The term of detention of 8 Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] military and political leaders, who have been in [Azerbaijani capital city of] Baku prison since September, is expiring. (...). They were arrested for 4 months, and there were some hopes that they would be released as soon as the term expired.

Siranush Sahakyan, a human rights advocate representing the interests of Armenian prisoners of war at the ECtHR, noted, in a conversation with us, that that it is not yet clear what steps the Azerbaijani authorities will take [in this regard].

We noticed that, judging by [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev's last interview, Artsakh's [aforesaid] military and political leaders will still remain under arrest. Moreover, Aliyev dreams of arresting 2 more people: [Armenia’s former presidents] Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan.

"There are legal regulations. If the investigation is not completed and there is a need to acquire as if new evidence, then a motion to extend the detention will be submitted to the court. It can be for 1, 2, 3 months, maybe more. At the moment there is no clear information, but I believe the course of affairs will be clear in the near future. I consider it probable that the detention will be extended, even if reduced. There will still be some performances required before the trial."

According to the Azerbaijani legislation, the period of preliminary detention can be extended up to 18 months.

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