Babayan: Claim of torturing Asgarov and Guliyev is intentionally trumped-up story

13:39   10 March, 2018

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 10, ARTSAKHPRESS:Davit Babayan, Head of the Central Information Department of the Office of the President of the Republic of Artsakh and Deputy Head of the NKR President’s Office, told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He noted this commenting on a respective statement by an organization called International Human Rights Defence Committee (CIPDH).

“It can be assumed from the style of that statement publicized in Azerbaijani media that this organization is registered in [Azerbaijan’s] Sumgait [town], or [capital city] Baku,” Babayan stressed. “It’s visible with the naked eye, too [that], the statement is false, absorbed with Azerbaijani oil or caviar.

“The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] conducts monitoring of the custody and health condition of the mentioned persons, and no trace of torture was found.”

At the same time he recalled the numerous violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, especially toward national minorities, captives, and detainees.

Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev (born in 1968), Dilgam Asgarov (born in 1960), and Hasan Hasanov—who was killed by the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) armed forces while rendering these saboteurs ineffective—had illegally crossed the NKR state border on June 29, 2014, and they were armed with weapons and ammunition. The three had entered the territory of the Shahumyan Region of Karabakh, and as spies, to collect information and carry out espionage.

On July 4, 2014, they had kidnapped and subsequently murdered Karabakh citizen Smbat Tsakanyan, 17, whose body was found on July 15, 2014, and with gunshot wounds, in a forest at the Shahumyan Region.

In addition, on the evening of July 11, 2014, Hasanov had killed Armenia capital city Yerevan resident Sargis Abrahamyan (born in 1971), and severely wounded Armenia’s Dzoraghbyur village resident Karine Davtyan, on the Vardenis-Karvachar Highway. Hasanov was armed and he resisted arrest; as a result, he was neutralized by the NKR special forces. Guliyev and Asgarov, on the other hand, were detained, and they faced trial in the NKR.

Asgarov was charged with espionage; unauthorized border trespass; kidnapping and violence against a minor, committed by an organized group; murder committed by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred; and attempt of murder of two persons, committed by an organized group, motivated by ethnic hatred.

Guliyev was charged with espionage; unauthorized border trespass; kidnapping and violence against a minor, committed by an organized group; and murder committed by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred.

And on December 29, 2014, the First Instance General Jurisdiction Court of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic sentenced Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison.



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