ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan does not rule out that Armenia may return two Azerbaijani servicemen who crossed the border. On May 22, at a press conference, he expressed his readiness to discuss this, but only after going through legal procedures. Earlier, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, following trilateral talks in Brussels, said that "th soldiers who have simply got lost and crossed to the other side would continue to be released through a speedy procedure."
Pashinyan confirmed that there is an understanding that the servicemen who got lost and crossed the opposite side border should be returned in a simplified manner. "But at the moment there are no lost Azerbaijanis in Armenia, all Azerbaijanis who are currently in Armenia, knowing that they are crossing the border with Armenia, have crossed it," he said. He assured that any citizen of Azerbaijan who got lost in the territory of Armenia and accidentally crossed the border will be returned to Azerbaijan in the shortest possible time. When asked if he ruled out the possibility of extradition of the two Azerbaijani servicemen detained in Armenia, Pashinyan replied that, in general, the settlement of relations is a complex process that cannot be one-sided.
"We cannot ignore the fact that an Armenian citizen was killed. But, of course, we do not violate the presumption of innocence of anyone. Now the case is at the stage of preliminary investigation, it will be followed by a court, after which the legal procedures involve a variety of solutions>, the Prime Minister of Armenia pointed out.
On April 10, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was found and detained in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. On April 13, a second Azerbaijani serviceman was found and detained on the territory of Armenia. One of the arrested Azerbaijani servicemen was charged with murder (they also are accused of illegally crossing the state border by prior agreement with a group of people, smuggling and illegal circulation of weapons and ammunition). According to the National Security Service of Armenia, it turned out that Hussein Akhundov on April 12 committed the murder of Armenian citizen Hayrapet Meliksetyan, who worked as a watchman at the ZCMZ. Akhundov recorded a video message on his phone with the following content: <: fortunately, we successfully reached Armenia ... 400-500 Armenians were beheaded. We are not traitors, we hope to successfully return to Azerbaijan:>. After that, he uploaded the recording on his page in the social network.