"Terter case": there are serious questions about the course of the investigation

According to information released by the General Prosecutor's Office on September 5, along with the Acting Head of the Department for Ideological Work and Moral and Psychological Support of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Bakir Orujov, several more people were arrested in the “Terter case.” Among them are Ramil Ahmedov and  Rahib Mammadov. Thus, after the resumption of the investigation into the “Terter case” in December 2021, the number of people prosecuted for torture reached 17 people. Taking into account the victims of the previous period, a total of 405 people are now recognized as victims.

Among those who were recognized as victims after the resumption of production is the late Lieutenant Tamkin Nizamioglu. Although  in 2017 it was announced that he died of a lung disease, his body was exhumed and a forensic report confirmed that he died as a result of torture.

An investigation was conducted into the case of 26 people arrested during the "Terter case" on charges of treason and other charges, but ultimately convicted not for treason, but on other charges related to the military sphere. Criminal prosecution of 19 of them was terminated on acquittal grounds. Another 7 people were acquitted on part of the charges, the criminal prosecution against them was terminated without justification.

A decision was also made in connection with the court verdicts against 19 people accused of high treason and sentenced to long prison terms. To review the court decisions against them, the Prosecutor General appealed to the Plenum of the Supreme Court.

What does this statement of the prosecutor's office, bearing the character of a report, mean?

Political observer Arastun Orujlu, who continues to keep the "Terter case" on the agenda  answered ASTNA’s questions.

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Question: What does this report of the Prosecutor General's Office shed light on? What message does it contain?

Answer: By this, the General Prosecutor's Office wants to show that  over  approximately nine  months of its activity, the local investigative group has done some work. This, in a sense, is a report to the public that the past  nine  months have not been in vain, the prosecutor's office has come to some conclusions. At the same time,  some points which have not been touched upon yet, have been considered. More precisely, one moment.  The talk is about an appeal to the Plenum of the Supreme Court on changing the decisions of the court in relation to military personnel who are under arrest and convicted on false charges in the course of the "Terter case". But, in fact, the prosecutor's office loses sight of something. According to the last report, 405 people were recognized as victims. In the statement, which was distributed in May, their number was 397 people. It turns out that over the past 3-plus months, only about 10 people have been recognized as victims. The question arises - what did the prosecutor's office do for almost 4 months? What did the investigation team find? It is clear that nothing has been done during these four months. The investigative group of the General Prosecutor's Office and the General Prosecutor's Office are waiting for the decisions of the political authorities, their instructions. The reason for the appearance of the last statement is that the victims of the "Terter case" and their parents announced that starting from mid-September they would begin long-term mass actions.

Question: According to the message by the Prosecutor General's Office, along with the Acting Head of the Department of Ideological Work and Moral and Psychological Support of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Bakir Orujov, several more people were arrested in the “Terter case.” Among them are Ramil Ahmedov, Rahib Mammadov. Who are these people? What connects them with the "Terter case"?

Answer: The report of the General Prosecutor's Office says that in addition to the previous ones,  three more people are expected to be arrested. One of them is General Bekir Orujov, while the others are Defense Ministry officials Ramil Ahmedov and Rahib Mammadov. The arrest of Major General Bakir Orujov caused a lot of discussion in society. Because for a long time there were extensive discussions in the Azerbaijani media with the participation of the victims of the "Terter case", their statements directly to the public. There, all the participants and organizers of the crime were named, various episodes were made public.

As a person directly and intensively involved in this matter, I declare that I heard the name of Bekir Orujov for the first time, and theedre has never been a talk about Ramil Ahmedov and Rahib Mammadov. Bekir Orudjov was mentioned in the list of defendants in the criminal case only once. This name appears in the criminal case on the murder of Adil Sabirli in the 2nd Army Corps, commanded by Mais Barhudarov. And there, he is not presented as an active participant. His arrest in connection with the "Terter case" raises many questions.

In the ranks and military units of the 1st Army Corps, which accounts for 90% of the “Terter case”, torture, violence and murders took place. General Bekir Orujov was the chief of staff of the 2nd Army Corps; and  torture was practiced there even before the “Terter events.” But 87 people were tortured there. And in the 1st Army Corps, that is, in Terter, this figure was about 2 thousand people. The arrest of the General of the 2nd Corps, instead of the organizers and criminals mentioned by hundreds of people in connection with the torture in the 1st Corps, raises questions. I do not have exact information about Ramil Ahmedov and Rahib Mammadov. I only know that Ramil Ahmedov is an employee of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Defense. The connection of the investigative department with the “Terter case” was that they were conducting an investigation in connection with the cases of servicemen who were arrested on false charges and subjected to torture. And they, in a sense, confirmed the accusations put forward by the military prosecutor's office. Although their task was to conduct an internal investigation. They couldn't investigate. Only in exceptional cases can they conduct an investigation. They don't have the authority.

Therefore, the arrest of Bekir Orujov raises many questions - why does the investigation, leaving aside the main organizers and criminals, carry out arrests in another building? Why is this arrest taking place, when the names of the former commander of the 1st Army Corps Hikmet Hasanov, military prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev, his deputy Shafayat Imranov and other generals are continuously mentioned? This raises serious questions.

Question: Do the new facts contained in the latest statement of the Prosecutor General's Office allow us to hope that this time the investigation is being conducted seriously and objectively?

Answer: The statement of the prosecutor's office says that the number of persons prosecuted, in respect of whom a measure of restraint in the form of detention was chosen and charges were brought, has reached 17. At the same time, the prosecutor's office reports that 405 people have been recognized as victims. It turns out that 407 people tortured only 17 people? The reasons for many of the killings were hidden. The forensic medical report issued regarding Lieutenant Tamkin Nizamioglu indicated that he had died from some kind of lung disease. After the exhumation, it turns out that he died as a result of torture. However, in fact, it became obvious that he was subjected to severe torture. They broke the spine, ribs, bones of the upper limbs. Then he was taken to a hospital in Ganja. There, too, he was kept locked up, preventing the medical staff from assisting him. As a result, he died.

At the same time, the appeal of the Prosecutor General's Office to the Plenum of the Supreme Court on the acquittal of 17 convicts is a matter whose resolution may take months. And it is even possible that the decision will not be positive. Due to the fact that the former assistant to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Major Farid Garibov, also publicly stated that not a single accusation of the victims of the “Terter case”, who are still imprisoned to this day, has been confirmed in cooperation with the Armenian special services. So these people are innocent. However, the accusations brought against them, false court sentences were confirmed in all judicial instances and in the conclusion of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court.

The probability of satisfying the appeal of the General Prosecutor's Office, without changes in the composition of the Supreme Court and the tenure of the Chairman of the Military Collegium of the Court, Aziz Seyidov, is doubtful. The son of Aziz Seyidov, Jafar Seyidov, commander of the naval special forces, was directly involved in these tortures. For the most part, it was he who directed the torture. Therefore, it would most likely be naive to expect that the Plenum of the Supreme Court will change any sentences. Perhaps the terms will be reduced, but those arrested on false charges will not be acquitted. From this point of view, the work of the prosecutor's office cannot be considered acceptable. The cancellation by the General Prosecutor's Office of the sentences against Mehman Huseynov and Elhan Agazade at the request of their relatives to acquit them does not mean at all that the case will be investigated objectively. Most of these actions are aimed at winning time.  

Question: They say that the number of victims has exceeded one thousand. But, a total of 405 people were recognized as victims. Why? What is the reason? Why do people avoid investigation?

Answer: The reason why, in the presence of over a thousand victims, only 405 people were recognized as such, is the lack of confidence in the investigation from the first day. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that those who were tortured after such a process as the “Terter Massacre” cannot have confidence in the state investigation. This is natural. Some of the victims of these tortures were dismissed from the army under the Article of non-compliance and were forced to leave the country, as they could not find work in the civil sphere in Azerbaijan, even as ordinary workers, and were forced to leave the country. The other part left the country for fear of facing another tragedy. And some of them, succumbing to the persuasion of the army leadership who committed this crime, were accepted into the army. Actually, this is nonsense. Persons dismissed from the army due to inconsistency in service were again accepted into the army. And, we are not talking about restoration here, because if they were restored, they would have to pay compensation. This is such a serious violation that it cannot be explained at all. Another part was taken under control by paying them in an illegal way. Today they are afraid to speak out. Others do not apply to the prosecutor's office because they are threatened with various revealing materials, including a video of rape. Others do not appeal because they are openly threatened with murder, threatened with re-arrest, torture. That is, the criminal group is actively resisting. One of the main parts of resistance is pressure on the victims, threats and other means. Based on this, we can conclude that, although we talk about almost 2 thousand victims, due to the lack of confidence in the investigation, the state, the prosecutor's office, 405 people applied to the prosecutor's office and were recognized as victims. People do not believe that justice will prevail and the investigation launched 5 years later will restore their rights. By the way, to assert this gives reason, a study conducted on May 9th. There is one more thing. Since many people over the years lost their jobs, found themselves in a difficult social situation, they expected that the investigation would be resumed, the criminal case would be opened, they would receive a legal assessment and they would receive compensation. Investigators from the prosecutor's office unequivocally tell the victims, whom they have interrogated and taken witness statements, that compensation is out of the question. The investigation team is doing this purposefully in order to reduce the number of victims. It is a fact.

Question: They say that the number of victims has exceeded one thousand. But, a total of 405 people were recognized as victims. Why? What is the reason? Why do people avoid investigation?

Answer: The reason why, in the presence of over a thousand victims, only 405 people were recognized as such, is the absence of confidence in the investigation from the first day. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that those who were tortured after such a process as the “Terter Massacre” cannot have confidence in the state investigation. This is natural. Some of the victims of these tortures were dismissed from the army under the article of non-compliance and were forced to leave the country, as they could not find work in the civil sphere in Azerbaijan, even as ordinary workers, and were forced to leave the country. The other part left the country for fear of facing another tragedy. And some of them, succumbing to the persuasion of the army leadership who committed this crime, were accepted into the army. Actually, this is nonsense. Persons dismissed from the army due to inconsistency in service were again accepted into the army. And,  the talk is not about restoration here, because if they were restored, they would have to pay compensation. This is such a serious violation that it cannot be explained at all. Another part was taken under control by paying them in an illegal way. Today they are afraid to speak out. Others do not apply to the prosecutor's office because they are threatened with various revealing materials, including a video of rape. Others do not appeal because they are openly threatened with murder, threatened with re-arrest, torture. That is, the criminal group is actively resisting. One of the main parts of resistance is pressure on the victims, threats and other means. Based on this, we can conclude that, although we are talking about almost 2 thousand victims, due to the lack of confidence in the investigation, the state, the prosecutor's office, 405 people applied to the prosecutor's office and were recognized as victims. People do not believe that justice will prevail and the investigation launched five years later will restore their rights. By the way, to assert this gives reason, a study conducted on May 9th. There is one more thing. Since many people over the years lost their jobs, found themselves in a difficult social situation, they expected that the investigation would be resumed, the criminal case would be opened, they would receive a legal assessment and they would receive compensation. Investigators from the prosecutor's office unequivocally tell the victims, whom they have interrogated and taken witness statements, that compensation is out of the question. The investigation team is doing this purposefully in order to reduce the number of victims. It is a fact.

Question: Will the turn reach the top?

Answer: If the process continues in the same vein, then naturally it will not come to fruition. Former corps commander Hikmet Hasanov, his deputies, most of the large team of the Military Prosecutor's Office headed by Khanlar Veliyev and his deputy Shafayat Imranov, involved in organizing this crime, still remain in their positions. One of the organizers of the “Terter massacre”, former Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov, as well as another organizer, his deputy Rustam Usubov, are inviolable. The former chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, Najmeddin Sadigov, and his nephew Ramil Askerov are also inviolable. Is it possible to believe in this situation that the turn will reach the top? But we will continue until all the organizers of this massacre are punished.

Question: What steps  should be taken for the objective course of the investigation?

Answer: For the objective course of the investigation and the full disclosure of the "Terter case", Khanlar Veliyev, Hikmet Hasanov, Ramil Askerov, Najmeddin Sadygov, Madat Guliyev, Zakir Hasanov, Zakir Garalov and Rustam Usubov should be involved in the investigation first of all. Most of the issues will be cleared up when all these persons are removed from office, their illegal immunity will be eliminated. This will happen when there is a sufficiently strong reaction from the society, and this is a matter of time. The political authorities, delaying the investigation of this event, will only create additional problems for themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to make a decision on the punishment of everyone, regardless of the persons who committed this crime. This event is an integral part of the hybrid war against the Azerbaijani state. Behind this are the Russian secret services. And Baku is afraid of Russia. As long as Russia has not collapsed, the Azerbaijani authorities, who cooperate with this country in all areas, will not agree to solve this crime. This is possible only if it feels threatened by society. And this is a matter of time.