Probably the panel to control Armenian “Iskander” missiles is in Russia

(Exclusive interview of the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev to Turan agency)

Question: Since the first Karabakh war, Azerbaijan has raised the issue of war criminals of Armenians in Karabakh. Is there a generalized list of war criminals from the two wars today?

- Answer: There is such a list. Since the end of 1988, when this conflict began, crimes have been committed against the Azerbaijani population. Since then, we have filed lawsuits. Then a special group was created in the Military Prosecutor's Office. Then a special department was created under the Military Prosecutor's Office to investigate these crimes. In particular, criminal cases were initiated on crimes in Khojaly, Meshabeyli, Baganis Ayrim. In total, over 200 lawsuits have been initiated and they are all in one proceeding.

In these cases, charges were brought against 307 people, and they were put on the wanted list. One of them is under arrest - this is Alaverdyan. This is a representative of the Armenian intelligence, detained in August 2020 in the Goranboy region.

I would divide all these cases into several groups: Crimes committed before May 12, 1994 (at the time of the signing of the Bishkek protocol on the ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia - ed.).

The second group is from 1994 to September 27, 2020. During this period, about 300 people were killed - servicemen and civilians.

Separately, the April events of 2016 are highlighted, where a criminal case was initiated against seven Armenian military personnel.

Also highlighted are the July events in the Tovuz region, when a civilian was killed and civilian infrastructure was damaged. And the last group of criminal cases refers to crimes during the hostilities that began on September 27.

-Question: The General Prosecutor's Office announced the filing a lawsuits against the former Minister of Defense of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan. However, his name has already been mentioned among 38 accused in the Khojaly genocide. What is new, that Ohanyan has been put on the wanted list again and why is he the only one?

- Answer: Seyran Ohanyan at different times held various posts in Armenia and Karabakh, where he is from. He was involved in various crimes against the peaceful Azerbaijani population and was put on the wanted list. However, this was not about the Khojaly case, but about earlier crimes.

He also took an active part in the Khojaly genocide. In this case, we put 39 soldiers on the wanted list, but Ohanyan was not there. Of these 39 people, according to our data, three have died; one was detained in New York in 2009 on charges of arms trafficking.

After re-analyzing the Khojaly events, we concluded that there is sufficient evidence to bring him to justice and put him on the wanted list.

-Question: The Armenian General Movses Hakobyan recently stated that Armenia used Iskander missiles during the recent hostilities against Azerbaijan, without saying in which direction these missiles were fired. If we have data on this?

-Answer: I can only rely on facts and cannot speak without support. We have no evidence of the use of Iskander missiles by the Armenian side. We analyzed all the remains of missiles fired in our direction, carried out an examination together with the relevant structures of the country.

I think it was a bluff on the part of Hakobyan for some kind of internal political purposes. At the same time, there is accurate data on the use of other equally destructive missiles by the Armenians -

"Scud", "Point U", as well as "Tornado". Cluster bombs were used against the city of Barda seven times.

These missiles are of old production and have long been transferred to Armenia. “Iskander” missiles are of a new generation. They are in Armenia, but I don't think they are under the operational control of the Armenian side. This is too serious a weapon, I believe that the so-called control panel for these missiles is in the hands of the Russian side. –71В-