Former Minister of Defense Rahim Gaziev is detained

Baku/13.07.20/Turan: The employees of the Azerbaijani State Security Service detained Rahim Gaziyev, former Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan.

According to a joint statement by the State Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office, there is a founded suspicion that on July 12 and 13 during military operations in connection with Armenian provocations on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, Gaziev “deliberately distributed through social networks inappropriate messages about the essence of events”.  These “actions are aimed at weakening the defense capability of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

In addition, Gaziev is charged with calls for "riots and violent seizure of state power."

A 77-year-old Gaziev, is charged under the Articles 281 (public appeals against the state) and 282 (provocation) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Currently, investigative and operational measures by the State Security Service are ongoing.

Rahim Gaziyev was the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan in 1992-93.

In the fall of 1993, he was arrested in the case of the occupation of the cities of Shusha and Lachin by the Armenian troops in May 1992. In September 1994, Gaziev escaped from the prison and hid in Russia until 1996. In 1995, he was sentenced in absentia to death, which was later replaced by life imprisonment.

In 1996, Russia extradited Gaziev to Azerbaijan, and he was sent to prison. In 2005, Gaziev was pardoned by presidential decree. -021C-