Azerbaijan drops criminal case against detained Armenian athletes in act of humanism

Azerbaijan has shown humanism and has terminated the criminal prosecution of the Armenian football players detained in Lachin.

According to Report, 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.

Notably, as a result of the conducted search measures, on August 28, Alen Sargsyan, born in 2001, Vahe Hovsepyan, born in 2003, and Levon Grigoryan were detained by the military personnel of the State Border Service at the Lachin border crossing point of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border.

As previously announced, the Armenian athletes were charged with 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).