Armenia  handed over to Syria terrorist mercenaries who fought  against Artsakh

ArmInfo. Armenia has handed over terrorist mercenaries to Syria to life imprisonment for participating in the fighting against Artsakh.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on social media  that Azerbaijan had handed over four captured Armenians to Armenia:  Gevorg Sujyan, David Davtyan, Vicken Euljekjian, and Vagif  Khachatryan. According to preliminary examinations, Gevorg Sujyan,  David Davtyan, and Vicken Euljekjian are in good health. Vagif  Khachatryan's condition is assessed as satisfactory. All four are  being transported to Yerevan, the Prime Minister noted.

This was followed by a statement from the Ministry of Justice saying  that on January 14, 2026, Syrian Arab Republic citizens Yousef  Alaabet al-Hajji and Mukhrab Muhammad al-Shkhari, sentenced to life  imprisonment in the Republic of Armenia, were transferred via the  Republic of Turkey to the competent authorities of the Syrian Arab  Republic for further execution of their sentences in their country of  citizenship.

In September 2025, the Hraparak newspaper reported that during a  visit to Baku, Andranik Simonyan, Director of the National Security  Service of the Republic of Armenia,  handed  the Azerbaijani side a  list of 10 prisoners of war whom the Armenian side wants to return to  their homeland as part of the normalization of bilateral relations.  However, Simonyan reportedly made no mention of the release and  return of the eight high-ranking officials of the military-political  leadership of Artsakh who are being "tried" in Baku. It was noted  that in exchange of these 10 individuals, the Azerbaijani side put  forward a counter-list, demanding the release of two Syrian citizens  - Muhrab Muhammad al-Shkheri and Yousef Alabet al-Hajji - who  participated in the 2020 war as terrorist mercenaries, committed  numerous murders of civilians, and were sentenced to life  imprisonment in Armenia in 2021.  "Our source reports that Andranik  Simonyan agreed to fulfill Azerbaijan's condition," the publication  emphasized.

 Recall, in May 2021, the press service of the Investigative  Committee reported that, as part of a comprehensive and objective  investigation, it was established that Syrian citizens Muhrab  Muhammad Al- Shkheri and Yusef Alabet al-Hajji, although not citizens  of Azerbaijan, not permanently residing on its territory, not being  conscripted into the Azerbaijani army, but being citizens of the  Syrian Arab Republic, not being sent by the authorities of Syria or  another state to perform official duties in the Armed Forces of the  Azerbaijani Republic for financial compensation, as part of an armed  group, participated in the aggressive war unleashed by the leadership  of Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020 against the Republic of Armenia  and the Republic of Artsakh. 

The investigation noted that their actions were aimed at killing or  causing serious injury to persons not participating in combat  operations. These actions were intended to terrorize the civilian  population and destabilize the situation in Armenia and Artsakh. Both  were charged under multiple articles of the RA Criminal Code,  including terrorism, crimes against the security of mankind, and  mercenarism.