BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 29
By Samir Ali - Trend:
The trial on the criminal case of 13 more members of the Armenian armed group that crossed the Azerbaijani territory to commit acts of terrorism was held at the Baku Court of Appeal, Trend reports on June 29.
The trial is chaired by Judge of Baku Court on Grave Crimes Eldar Ismayilov.
The composition of the court and the public prosecutor was introduced to the accused during the trial.
The court explained to the accused their rights. The judge stressed that the accused can refuse to testify, express the protest to the composition of the court and the public prosecutor.
The defendants said during the trial that they were satisfied with the course of the preliminary investigation and the conditions of detention. They stressed that no pressure was exerted on them.
Then the prosecutor read out the indictment.
The investigative bodies revealed that a group of Armenians, illegally acquiring weapons, components for the weapons, ammunition, explosives and devices, created armed formations not envisaged by the law.
The members of these armed formations illegally crossed the state border of Azerbaijan on November 27, 2020, as an organized group, took up the combat positions in the forest and other areas in the northwestern part of the Hadrut settlement of Khojavand district.
Those individuals attacked enterprises, institutions, and organizations, as well as individuals, organized explosions, fires and carried out other terrorist actions that pose a threat to the life and health of people up until December 13, 2020, which may cause big damage to the property or lead to other socially dangerous consequences to violating public safety, sowing panic among the population or influencing the decision-making by the state authorities of Azerbaijan or international organizations.
The accused were charged under Articles 214, 228, 279, 318 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code.
A break was announced at the trial.
After the break, the defendants gave testimony.
A Member of the Khakaz group Hovhannisyan said that he was drafted into the army on November 25, 2020, he was given a weapon and sent to the Lachin district and then to Hadrut settlement.
"We were told that we were going to guard the border,” Hovhannisyan said. “We were sent to the post. Armen Ghazaryan called the leader of our group on December 13 and told us to leave as these are not our lands. And then we were detained and disarmed by Azerbaijani servicemen. I knew that Armenia signed the surrender agreement, but knew nothing about the content of this document."
While answering the questions of the prosecutor, Hovhannisyan said that the day before, the Azerbaijani servicemen urged the Armenian armed group to leave the territory. The Armenian armed group did not comply with this demand and its members were detained.
"We knew that the war was over, but we didn’t know that Azerbaijan returned the Nagorno-Karabakh region,” Hovhannisyan added. “We were told that the war was over, but nobody told which part of the territory we had. I know that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is Azerbaijan. And I knew that I was serving in the Azerbaijani territory, but was forced to do this because the military commissariat sent me there.”
The defendants will continue to testify at the next court hearing, to be held on July 2.
