At this moment, Shahbaz Guliyev, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), does not wish to appeal the judgment of the NKR first instance court.  

The Azerbaijani saboteur’s attorney, Arkadi Israyelyan, told about the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“I’ve seen my client after the sentencing. He said that he doesn’t want to appeal the ruling. But there is still a week before the verdict comes into legal force. He might change his mind and express a wish to appeal,” Israyelyan stated.

According to the NKR Police, Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev (born in 1968), Dilham Askerov (born in 1960), and Hasan Hasanov—who was killed by the Armenian armed forces while rendering the saboteurs ineffective—had illegally crossed the state border of Karabakh on June 29, 2014, and they were armed with weapons and ammunition. The three entered the territory of the Shahumyan region of Karabakh as spies to collect information and carry out espionage.

On July 4, 2014, they kidnapped and subsequently murdered a Karabakh citizen, 17-year-old Smbat Tsakanyan, whose body was found on July 15, 2014, with gunshot wounds in a forest at 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 Askerov, on the other hand, were detained, and they faced trial in the NKR.

Dilham Askerov 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. Shahbaz 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 Nagorno-Karabakh Republic court sentenced Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison.