BAKU (Caucasian Knot) — During a hearing at the Baku Military Court at the end of December, former speaker of the Nagorno-Karabakh parliament, David Ishkhanyan, delivered his closing statement, denying the charges. The verdict will be announced at the next hearing.
As reported by the “Caucasian Knot,” the trial of the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh accused of war crimes concluded on October 31. The prosecution requested life imprisonment for Arayik Harutyunyan, David Ishkhanyan, David Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, and David Manukyan, and 16 to 20 years in prison for the others. On December 4, the lawyers called the guilt of their clients unproven and called on the court to acquit them. On December 11, eight defendants in the case against the military-political leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh made their final statements before a Baku court. All stated that they did not consider themselves guilty of the war crimes charged against them. On December 22, Babayan and Mnatsakanyan also denied the charges in a Baku court.
The defendants are 15 former Karabakh officials, including Presidents Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan, as well as Parliament Speaker David Ishkhanyan. The case of Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan is being heard separately. They have been charged under more than 20 articles, and the case contains 2,548 episodes.
At the court hearing, Ishkhanyan stated that he did not participate in the forced eviction of people from their places of residence, illegal settlement, planting mines, planning an aggressive war, preparing new plans for attack, genocide, the extermination of civilians, violation of the laws and customs of war, persecution of civilians, hostage-taking, illegal imprisonment in violation of international law, torture, murder of civilians, plunder of property, participation in a criminal organization, illegal transportation of weapons and ammunition, or other crimes, the Azertaj newspaper reported today.
The accused also spoke about the tragedy in Garakand, which occurred on November 20, 1991. He stated that the explosion of the Azerbaijani helicopter, which was carrying high-ranking officials, was an air crash.
According to the Azerbaijani side, on November 20, 1991, Armenian armed forces shot down an Mi-8 helicopter carrying Azerbaijani officials over the village of Garakand in the Khojavend district. As a result, 22 people died – prominent government officials, journalists, and members of the Russian-Kazakh peacekeeping mission, the Report news agency reports.
