Saboteurs Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilham Askerov, heavily armed, illegally crossed into Artsakh’s Karvajar on June 29, 2014. They kidnapped and murdered 17-year old Smbat Tsakanyan, an Armenian resident of Karvajar. Guliyev and Askerov had a third accomplice, Hasan Hasanov, who was shot dead during an armed confrontation with Artsakh security forces. Hasanov killed an Armenian serviceman, Major Sargis Abrahamyan, and seriously wounded a civilian woman – Karine Davtyan – on the Vardenis-Martakert highway.
Askerov and Guliyev were eventually apprehended by Artsakh security forces. An Artsakh court sentenced Askerov to life in prison, while Guliyev received a 22-year sentence.
Both were denying the charges and their narrative on how they appeared in Artsakh was that they wanted “to visit the grave of their family members”.
...