Azerbaijan has handed over four Armenian prisoners it had in its custody to Armenia on Wednesday. The prisoners were held by Azerbaijan alongside 19 others, among them former Nagorno-Karabakh political and military leaders.
The handover of the four prisoners took place on Wednesday over Hakari Bridge, which used to connect Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
The four prisoners — Vagif Khachatryan, Vigen Euljekjian, Gevorg Sujyan, and Davit Davtyan — have been sentenced on various charges by Azerbaijan.
Khachatryan, 70, was serving a 15-year sentence on war crime charges he denies. He was hospitalised in December 2025 and his health condition was assessed as serious at the time.
Khachatryan was arrested at Azerbaijan’s Lachin checkpoint in July 2023, after the region was placed under blockade in December 2022, as he was being evacuated by the Red Cross to Armenian hospitals for urgent treatment.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The other three detainees were arrested by Azerbaijan in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.
Lebanese–Armenian Vigen Euljekjian was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and suffered from health issues. During his time in Azerbaijani prisons, he started a hunger strike and reportedly attempted suicide.
Gevorg Sujyan and Davit Davtyan were taken captive on 11 November 2020 while reportedly transporting humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh. They were later sentenced to 15 years each in prison.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
News of the release was shared by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on social media. Pashinyan also later announced that three out of the four Armenian captives ‘have no health issues according to preliminary examinations’, while saying that Khachatryan’s health ‘is initially assessed as satisfactory’.
With their release, 19 Armenian prisoners remain in Azerbaijani custody.
In parallel, Armenia released two Syrian nationals it alleged were mercenaries captured during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020.
The two Syrians, Yousef Alaabet al-Hajji and Muharrab Muhammad al-Shkheri, were sentenced to life imprisonment in Armenia, international terrorism, and crimes committed during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
The Armenian Justice Ministry announced that the two were transferred ‘to the competent authorities’ via Turkey, ‘in order to continue the enforcement of their sentences in their country of citizenship’.
