YEREVAN. – The Azerbaijanis, who brutally killed 17-year-old Smbat Tsakanyan, are not saboteurs, but international terrorists.
Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party National Assembly Faction Secretary Tevan Poghosyan, who is from the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) by birth, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
“We need to properly assess the situation and call it like it is. What is the difference between these Azerbaijanis and the Islamist terrorists? They [, the Azerbaijanis,] have entered our territory, killed, slaughtered, [and] beheaded the 17-year-old boy on the cemetery.
“They were not saboteurs, but terrorists, who must be punished with international laws,” Poghosyan specifically said.
The opposition MP also expressed a view that Armenia should not intervene in any way to the trial procedure of these Azerbaijanis, and everything must be done pursuant to the NKR laws.
The court hearings on these Azerbaijanis’ case will start on October 27, in the NKR capital city of Stepanakert.
Tsakanyan’s relatives, however, had told Armenian News-NEWS.am that they do not want for these Azerbaijanis to be tried.
“The Azeri saboteurs do not deserve to live after they murdered my son. They should get what they did to my baby. The gift of life in prison is too generous,” Smbat’s mother Karine Tsakanyan said. “Smbat was murdered in the forest, and they murdered him, even though they took away his money and food.”
According to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Police, citizens of Azerbaijan Shahbaz Guliyev (born in 1968), Dilham Askerov (born in 1960), and Hasan Hasanov, who was shot by law enforcement agents at the spot, illegally crossed the state border of Karabakh armed with a weapon and ammunition on June 29. The three entered the territory of the Shahumyan region of Karabakh as enemy spies to collect information and carry out espionage tasks.
On July 4, they kidnapped and murdered the citizen of Karabakh, 17-year-old Smbat Tsakanyan, whose body was found on July 15 with gunshot wounds in the forest at Shahumyan region. In addition, in the evening of July 11, on Vardenis-Karvachar highway Hasanov killed the resident of Yerevan Sargis Abrahamyan (born in 1971), and severely wounded the resident of Armenian Dzoraghbyur village Karine Davtyan.
Hasanov was armed and resisted during the arrest; as a result, he was neutralized by special forces of Nagorno Karabakh. The two others, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilham Askerov, were arrested and detained.
Dilham Askerov is charged for 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; attempt of murder of two persons, committed by an organized group, motivated by ethnic hatred. Shahbaz Guliyev is charged for 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.
