Erik Beglaryan, the attorney of Azerbaijani saboteur Dilham Askerov, whom the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) First Instance General Jurisdiction Court had sentenced to life imprisonment, believes that his client will petition to the NKR President, with a request to be granted official pardon.

“There is no word yet about appealing the judgment [of the court]. I have not seen my client, but I believe he definitely will petition to [NKR President] Bako Sahakyan, with a request for amnesty,” Beglaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his words, however, Askerov can petition to the President with such a request solely after January 29, when the court ruling will enter into force.

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 these saboteurs ineffective—had illegally crossed the state border of Karabakh 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 a Karabakh citizen, 17-year-old Smbat Tsakanyan, 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 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 First Instance General Jurisdiction Court sentenced Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev to life and 22 years, respectively, in prison.