STEPANAKERT. – The attorneys of the saboteurs Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev have presented their view of the mistakes made by the court of the first instance during the trial in Stepanakert (photos).

Arkady Israelyan, attorney of Shahbaz Guliyev, said his client pleaded non-guilty to the charge of illegally trespassing the border: Guliyev claims he allegedly had no intention to cross the border of NKR being confident that the territory is in a neutral zone and is not within NKR borders. He does not agree with the charges of espionage and denies any links to Azerbaijani special services.

Guliyev said he did not know whether Hasan Hasanov was working for Azerbaijani special services. Guliyev also rejected charges on illegal possession of arms, since he did not use any weapons. He denied involvement in kidnapping and killing Smbat Tsakanyan. The accused once again told the story of “going to Qarvachar on a treasure hunt”. His attorney said Guliyev was not a member of Askerov- Hasanov gang.

As an evidence of his innocence, Guliyev said he had weapon and had an opportunity to kill any other child, but did not use it and handed over the weapon to those who detained him. 

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am