Azerbaijani soldier pleads guilty to murdering Armenian civilian

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani soldier Hussein Akhundov who illegally crossed the border to Armenia and murdered a civilian in the southern province of Syunik has pleaded guilty, according to a report from the Public TV of Armenia.

Akhundov’s arrest has been extended for 3 months.

Earlier, a criminal case was initiated against two Azerbaijani soldiers, Akhundov and Agshin Babirov, who crossed the border from Nakhijevan into the territory of Armenia. Besides Akhundov’s murder charges, the two are also accused of illegal crossing of the state border by prior agreement with a group of persons, smuggling and illegal circulation of weapons and ammunition.

The Court of General Jurisdiction of Syunik held the first hearing on Akhundov's case on June 9 in Kapan. During the meeting, Akhundov pleaded guilty to the crimes he was accused of.

Journalists were allowed to be in the meeting room only at the beginning, the main part of it was held behind closed doors. In May, the court of general jurisdiction of Syunik sentenced Babirov to 11 years and 6 months in prison.

According to the National Security Service of Armenia, on April 12, Akhundov murdered Armenian citizen Hayrapet Meliksetyan, who worked as a watchman at the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Plant. Akhundov, in particular, having reached the outpost of the ZMKK in the village of Shgharshik, shot Meliksetyan from a machine gun in order to steal his mobile phone and car. The caretaker 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 scene.

A little later, he recorded a video message on the phone, saying: "...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.