French President Francois Hollande held talks with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan Monday in a fresh push to end the festering conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

The summit in Paris enabled "the resumption of a direct dialogue" between the presidents of the two countries, though no accord was reached, the French presidency said in a statement after the talks ended.

French President Francois Hollande held talks with leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan Monday as Europe makes a fresh push to end the festering conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

The summit in Paris follows a visit by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to both countries last week after a sharp escalation in violence over the region in recent months as war rages in Ukraine.

Two Azerbaijani citizens went on trial Monday for murder and espionage in the separatist Armenian-backed Nagorny Karabakh region, as the latest international efforts to resolve the festering conflict kicked off in Paris.

Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilhan Askerov are accused of infiltrating the disputed territory in late June as part of an Azerbaijani reconnaissance group and killing a 17-year-old Karabakh civilian and a soldier, the separatist judicial authority said in a statement.

French President Francois Hollande hosts leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan Monday as Europe makes a fresh push to end the festering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited both countries last week after a sharp escalation in violence over the disputed region in recent months as war raged in Ukraine.

Some 16,000 opposition supporters rallied in the Armenian capital on Friday to protest against President Serzh Sarkisian's rule and demanded snap polls.

They accused the government of failing to stem poverty and corruption in the landlocked former Soviet republic.

Germany's foreign minister on Thursday offered Berlin's experience in post-war reconciliation to Armenia and Turkey to help them forge peace a century after a World War I-era massacre.

On a visit to Yerevan, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany's long road to partnership with France after two world wars could serve as an example following the 1915 slaughter of Armenians during World War I.

Twelve adults and five children suspected of child sex crimes and human trafficking have been arrested in Colombia in a joint operation with the United States, officials from both countries said Tuesday.

The suspects are accused of pimping, sex tourism, human trafficking and drug crimes, the Colombian prosecutor's office said in a statement. 

Over 10,000 opposition supporters rallied on Friday in the Armenian capital demanding a change in government and accusing the present rulers of failing to stem poverty and corruption in the landlocked country.

"The time has come to get rid of our criminal and corrupt government," Armenia's former president and leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress party, Levon Ter-Petrosian, told the rally.

Armenian troops killed an Azerbaijani soldier in the latest border clash in the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, officials in Baku said on Friday.

"Junior Sergeant Akhmed Tural, 24, was killed in a shootout with enemy forces as Armenia violated the ceasefire on October 9," the defense ministry in Azerbaijan said in a statement.

Azerbaijani troops have killed an ethnic Armenian soldier in the disputed Nagorny Karabakh territory, officials in Yerevan said on Thursday.

"The Karabakh army soldier, David Navasardyan, died of fatal wounds after Azerbaijani forces opened fire on October 1 on the Karabakh frontline," Armenia's defense ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, told Agence France-Presse.