War crime: BBC studies video of execution of two Armenian POWs by Azerbaijan

The BBC has studied the videos showing two Armenian men taken prisoner and later shot dead by the Azerbaijani troops, confirming that the man giving commands in both videos is a native Azerbaijani speaker with a regional accent, and the helmets and rifles seen on the soldiers matched those used at least in some instances by Azerbaijani servicemen.

The BBC says Armenian authorities have identified the executed men as Benik Hakobyan, 73, and 25-year-old Yuri Adamyan.

The BBC has confirmed that the man giving commands in both videos is a native Azerbaijani speaker with a regional accent. The prisoners from the first video also appear to be the men being executed in the second as they are wearing the same clothes.

The BBC has studied the clips and confirmed that they were filmed in Hadrut, a town in Artsakh, that has seen intense fighting. The first videos actually showing the Azerbaijan army in the town centre appeared on 15 October. The POW videos both appeared for the first time on 15 October. The execution clip seems to be filmed at a park approximately a kilometre away in the south of the town.

Bellingcat open-source investigators identified the same locations and time periods for both videos and confirmed that helmets and rifles seen on the soldiers matched those used at least in some instances by Azerbaijani servicemen.

The BBC spoke to a former British military intelli...