Tuesday, January 27 2015 18:11

Azerbaijani raider Dilham Askerov's fate must be discussed with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic only, Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan told reporters, Tuesday.

Earlier, Azerbaijani mass media misquoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In the course of the annual press briefing on Russian diplomacy for 2014, journalists asked a question about Dilham Aliyev, an Azeri raider, who was convicted in Artsakh. This time, Azerbaijan reported that Askerov allegedly has Russian citizenship. 

"You have said he is a Russian citizen and was detained by Armenia, haven't you? Well, we will discuss the issue with Armenia. We have many Russian citizens detained in various countries. We regularly verify the reasons of their detention, the charges brought against our citizens, their incarceration conditions, the detaining countries' plans towards Russian citizens, and make appropriate decisions through the canals we have for the given purposes within Russia's bilateral relations with particular countries," Lavrov said.  (RF Foreign Ministry website) 

However, the above statement of the Russian foreign minister became a reason for another misreport by Azerbaijani mass media saying that the Russian diplomat allegedly promised to discuss the issue of Askerov's "captivity" with Armenia.  Commenting on the above statement by the Russian minister, Defense Minister Ohanyan urged media not to distort the core of the Russian diplomat's statements. "As for Askerov's case specifically, it can be discussed with official Stepanakert only," the minister reiterated. 

According to Nagorno-Karabakh's Police, on 29 June 2014, Shahbaz Jalal oghli Guliyev, Dilham Gardashkhan oghli Askerov and Hasan Hasanov illegally penetrated into the territory of NKR having with them arms and ammunition and attempted a sabotage attack. They were spying and even kidnapped minor Smbat Tsakanyan, a citizen of NKR on 4 July, who was later found with deadly wounds to the head.  Afterwards, on 11 July, on the Vardenis-Karvachar road, Hasanov murdered a resident of Yerevan Sargis Abrahamyan (born in 1971) and wounded Karine Davtyan, a resident of Dzoraghbyur village on the grounds of national hatred. He was killed showing armed resistance to the Armenian forces. The other two raiders were arrested.  Shahbaz Guliyev, 46, and Dilham Askerov, 54, were charged under the NKR Criminal Code's Article 316 (spying), Article 350 part 2 (violation of the NKR's border by an organized group), Article 245 part 3 (illegal carrying of arms and ammunition), Article 129 part 3 point 1 (kidnapping, actions against a minor with the use of arms), Article 103 part 2 points 3,7,14 (murder combined with kidnapping by an organized group out of ethnic hatred) and Articles 33 and 103 part 1 point 14 (attempted murder of two or more people by an organized group out of ethnic hatred).