Azernews.Az

A press-conference on prosecuting the persons in command of military operations in Lelekend and Bally Gaya on December 29, 1992 was held in Baku on Tuesday. The conference was attended by 29 parents of soldiers, who fell martyrs in this battle.

Assistant Chief Military Prosecutor, Spokesman of Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office Afraim Tahmazov noted that a criminal case was initiated with regards to this incident by the Gazakh garrison military prosecutor's office on Feb. 25, 1993 and an investigation conducted under the fifth paragraph of Article 255 of the Criminal Code, which was valid until September 1, 2000. Although, the investigation of the criminal case was suspended in various periods, it was decided to review the incident at the request of the victims, and criminal case was opened under article 341.3 on April 14, 2012.

The chief investigator for particularly important cases of the Special Investigation Unit of Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office Ulvi Akhmedov noted that in the course of military operations conducted by a military unit 707, 28 soldiers near Lelekend and three fighters near Bally Gaya were surrounded and destroyed by the enemy. The survivors were injured.

According to him, this criminal case was initiated in February 1993, but the objectivity of the investigation was not ensured.

"There were objective as well as subjective reasons for that. The new examination was appointed during the renewed investigation, which was entrusted to the experts of the combat readiness department of the Ministry of Defence. The examination found that the command of the military unit 707 showed inexperience and took no steps to free the men from the besiegement. The operation carried out in an unauthorized manner by the military unit commander Isa Sadygov was not coordinated with the corps commander Dadash Rzaev and his deputy Hamlet Huseynov. The investigation also found that Sadigov, as commander, pursued his own goals and arbitrarily made decisions, exceeding official authority. He directed soldiers of the first company of the first battalion under his command to the military operation. He did not pay attention to the statement of Lieutenant Nowruz Ismiyev on unreadiness for the battle," Ulvi Akhmedov said.

Akhmedov also said that on June 12, 2013, the Baku Military Court issued a decision declaring Isa Sadygov wanted.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from the occupied territories.