The court hearing of the criminal case into Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, the two members of an Azerbaijani intelligence-gathering sabotage team, resumed Monday at the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR; Artsakh) capital city Stepanakert seat of the NKR First Instance General Jurisdiction Court.

The presiding judged continued presenting the two defendants’ testimonies they had given during the investigation, Artsakhpress reported.  

According to Guliyev’s testimony, Hasan Hasanov wanted to twist Smbat Tsakanyan’s neck to kill him. Reaffirming this testimony, Guliyev stated that Hasanov had also used violence against the Armenian teen.  

Askerov, for his part, once again confirming that he was the one recording with Hasanov’s video camera, and noted that Hasanov had a map to decide where and what kind of recordings must be made.   

It is noteworthy that the aforesaid video camera also contained recordings from the interrogation of Hakob Injighulyan, the repatriated Armenian soldier who was held captive in Azerbaijan, but Askerov claimed that he knew nothing about these recordings.

Askerov also considered a lie the descriptions, particularly of the incidents relating to him. Specifically, Guliyev had again insisted that, after hearing a machine gun fire, he had turned around and seen Hasanov with the weapon on his shoulder, whereas Askerov sitting, and his machine gun aimed at the killed teenager.      

According to the NKR Police, Azerbaijani citizens 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 the NKR special forces. The two others, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilham Askerov, were arrested and detained.

Dilham Askerov is 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. Shahbaz Guliyev is 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.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am