Two citizens of Armenia suspected of treason and espionage for Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, August 12. /ARKA/. Two citizens of Armenia are suspected of espionage and treason, the Office of Prosecutor General and the National Security Service (NSS) said today, saying also that they have evidence that both were recruited by foreign intelligence services.

According to the Office of Prosecutor General, one of the suspected persons, identified as V.G., was recruited by foreign intelligence services in 2017 and contacted with the Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia.

On June 7, 2022, he left Armenia through the Bagratashen border checkpoint, and on August 7 he posted a video message in which he renounced his Armenian citizenship and asked Azerbaijani presidnet to grant him Azerbaijani citizenship.

According to the Office of Prosecutor General, there is evidence that this citizen supposedly committed treason, expressed in defecting to the side of the enemy and spying to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and external security of Armenia.

Besides, on August 10 this year the Office of Prosecutor General received a report about an alleged case of treason committed by a citizen of Armenia, identified as I.V., as well as about espionage committed by a foreign citizen.

Particularly, according to available, data, citizen I.V., residing in Istanbul (Turkey) who was recruited by foreign secret services, placed openly anti-Armenian posts on Facebook during 2022 in which he praised the authorities of Azerbaijan, their policy, criticized the Armenian armed forces during the war between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan in 2020 autumn.

Citizen I.V. asked the Azerbaijani president to grant him citizenship and the opportunity "to live and work in the city of Stepanakert, under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Azerbaijan.'

"I.V. thus supposedly committed high treason, which was expressed in defecting to the side of the enemy and espionage to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and external security of the Republic of Armenia," the Office of Prosecutor General said.

On August 8 Armenia's National Security Service initiated two separate criminal cases under Article 418 part 1 and Article 424 part 1 of the Criminal Code. --0--

Read the news first and discuss them in our Telegram

17:46 08/12/2022