BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 11. The trial in the
criminal case against citizens of Armenia continued at the Baku
Military Court on December 11, and the parties were given the
opportunity to exercise their right to rebuttal during the court
hearing, Trend
reports.


Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General Vusal Aliyev first
spoke about the part of the case that disputed the roles of the
accused in the criminal group. He recalled that, according to the
defense, a criminal group is created to commit criminal offenses,
based on world experience.


According to the prosecutor defending the state prosecution, the
evidence examined at the trial confirmed that the aforementioned
criminal groups had begun to form several years before the start of
the first Karabakh war.


"It's true that the evidence examined established that these
groups were indeed supported and armed by the Armenian leadership.
However, later we saw that the leaders and members of these armed
groups held important political and military posts in the so-called
organization created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and
in Armenia. That is, these groups were not random, arbitrary units
and later became part of the criminal army that occupied the
territories of Azerbaijan.


As for the accused, for example, David Manukyan was a member of
the Shusha battalion, and Davit Ishkhanyan was the commander of the
'28th Martuni' battalion. However, these and other battalions were
precisely the renamed, more organized, and militarized form of the
aforementioned illegal groups," Aliyev said.







Fifteen defendants of Armenian origin are accused in the
criminal case concerning numerous crimes committed during the
aggressive war waged by the Armenian state—including the
aforementioned criminal association - on the territory of
Azerbaijan, in violation of domestic and international legal norms.
These crimes were committed for the purpose of military aggression
against Azerbaijan and were carried out under the direct leadership
and participation of the Armenian state, officials of its state
institutions, its armed forces, and illegal armed formations,
through their written and verbal orders, instructions, and
guidelines; material, technical, and personnel support; centralized
management; as well as under strict control and under the
leadership and direct or indirect participation of Robert Sedraki
Kocharyan, Serzh Azati Sargsyan, Vazgen Mikaeli Manukyan, Vazgen
Zaveni Sargsyan, Samvel Andraniki Babayan, Vitali Mikaeli
Balasanyan, Zori Hayki Balayan, Seyran Musheghi Ohanyan, Arshavir
Surenovich Garamyan, Monte Charles Melkonyan, and others.


The following individuals—Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan, Arkadi
Arshaviri Ghukasyan, Bako Sahaki Sahakyan, Davit Rubeni Ishkhanyan,
David Azatini Manukyan, Davit Klimi Babayan, Levon Henrikovich
Mnatsakanyan, Vasili Ivani Beglaryan, Erik Roberti Ghazaryan, Davit
Nelsoni Allahverdiyan, Gurgen Homeri Stepanyan, Levon Romiki
Balayan, Madat Arakelovich Babayan, Garik Grigori Martirosyan, and
Melikset Vladimiri Pashayan—are being charged under the following
articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan:
Article 100 (planning, preparing, initiating, and waging a war of
aggression); Article 102 (attacking persons or organizations
enjoying international protection); Article 103 (genocide); Article
105 (extermination of the population); Article 106 (enslavement);
Article 107 (deportation or forced displacement of population);
Article 109 (persecution); Article 110 (enforced disappearance of
persons); Article 112 (deprivation of liberty contrary to
international law); Article 113 (torture); Article 114 (mercenary
service); Article 115 (violation of the laws and customs of
warfare); Article 116 (violation of international humanitarian law
during armed conflict); Article 118 (military robbery); Article 120
(intentional murder); Article 192 (illegal entrepreneurship);
Article 214 (terrorism); Article 214-1 (financing terrorism);
Article 218 (creation of a criminal organization); Article 228
(illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation, and
possession of weapons, ammunition, explosives, and devices);
Article 270-1 (acts threatening aviation security); Article 277
(assassination of a state official or public figure); Article 278
(forcible seizure and retention of power, forcible change of the
constitutional structure of the state); Article 279 (creation of
armed groups not provided for by law); and additional articles.


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