YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The two Syrian mercenaries who were fighting from the Azerbaijani side in the war against Artsakh and who are currently detained by Armenian authorities are not subject to handover or exchange because they are not prisoners of war, the Committee of Investigations told ARMENPRESS.

“They have a status of defendants and are remanded into custody,” the committee’s spokesperson Rima Yeganyan told ARMENPRESS.

The two Syrian citizens - Yusuf Alaabet al-Hajji and Mehrab Muhammad Al-Shkheir – are arrested on charges of international terrorism, gross violation of international humanitarian law norms during armed conflict, and mercenarism. They were captured by the Artsakh military. 

These mercenaries will not be covered by the “all for all” principle of exchanging POWs and other detainees between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan