BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 5
Trend:
The trial of two Armenian citizens - Ishkhan Sargsyan and Vladimir Rafaelyan, accused of committing terrorist attack in Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar (liberated from Armenian occupation in the 2020 second Karabakh war), in the administrative building of the Sabunchu District Court in Baku continued on March 5, Trend reports.
During the trial chaired by the Ganja Grave Crimes Court Judge Elmin Rustamov, lawyers of the accused persons and then the accused persons themselves delivered speech.
According to the verdict of the judicial board, Sargsyan was sentenced to 19 years, and Rafaelyan to 18 years of imprisonment.
In accordance with the verdict, they will serve nine years of the sentence in prison, and the remaining term in a strict regime colony.
After serving their sentence, they will leave Azerbaijan.
Earlier, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Sargsyan to 20 years, and Rafaelyan to 19 years of imprisonment.
The indictment stated that on May 27, 2021, at about 03:00, the commander of the group in the military unit of the special forces of the intelligence of the Armenian Defense Ministry Ishkhan Sargsyan and Vladimir Rafaelyan, who served in the military as a sapper engineer illegally crossed the state border of Azerbaijan in the direction of the Kalbajar district, where units of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan are deployed, and carried out work on mining roads passing through the village of Yukhary Ayrim. These persons were arrested at the scene of the crime. With them, 23 mines of the "TM 62-M" and "E-00-M" types were detected and confiscated.
In a criminal case initiated by the State Security Service, Sargsyan and Rafaelyan were charged under Article 214.2.3 (terrorism committed with the use of firearms and objects used as weapons), Article 228 (illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying weapons, components for them, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices), Articles 318 (illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan) and 282 (sabotage) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.