Azerbaijani soldier charged with killing civilian in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - One of the Azerbaijani soldiers arrested in Armenia after crossing the border has been charged with murder, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia reports.

Earlier, a criminal case was initiated against two Azerbaijani soldiers, Agshin Babirov and Hussein Akhundov, who had previously crossed the border from Nakhichevan and ended up on the territory of Armenia. They were accused of illegally crossing the state border by prior agreement with a group of people, smuggling and illegal circulation of weapons and ammunition. On April 17, a court of general jurisdiction in Yerevan ordered their arrest.

The National Security Service of Armenia has now revealed that on April 12, Akhundov murdered Armenian citizen Hayrapet Meliksetyan, who worked as a watchman at the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine. Akhundov, having reached the outpost of the ZMKK in the village of Shgharshik, Kapan community, shot Meliksetyan from a machine gun in order to take his mobile phone and vehicle. Meliksetyan died on the spot.

Akhundov took Meliksetyan's phone, cigarettes and lighter, tried to start the car, but could not. After that, he fled the crime scene.

A little later, he recorded a video message that said: "...fortunately, we successfully reached Armenia...beheaded 400-500 Armenians. We are not traitors, we hope to successfully return to Azerbaijan...". After that, he uploaded the recording on social media.

Then Akhundov went to the village of Achanan, Syunik region, where on April 13 he was noticed by passers-by, who, having found out that he was a soldier of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, neutralized him and handed him over to the authorities.