Criminal Case Initiated Against Azerbaijani ‘Karabakh’ Football Club Press Secretary for Anti-Armenian Remarks

The Military Prosecutor's Office of Armenia has initiated a criminal case regarding remarks made by Nurhwan Ibrahimov, the press secretary of Azerbaijan's ‘Karabakh’ Football Club, who called for the killing of all Armenians.

The case was opened under Article 226, part 2, clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code (publicly or using media to incite national, racial, or religious hatred) and Article 3971 (denial, minimization, approval, or justification of genocide and other crimes against peace and humanity).

According to the press office of the Armenian Prosecutor General, on October 31, 2020, Nurhwan Ibrahimov made a post on his Facebook page justifying genocide against Armenians based on their ethnicity and inciting hatred, violence, and hostility towards them. He stated, “We must kill Armenians. We must kill children, women, and the elderly, without any distinction. We must kill everyone. No mercy and no emotions. It is pointless to speak to them in the language of the law. The Armenians began to understand when we started to speak in the language of force. We must kill...”

According to Article 1 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on December 9, 1948, and ratified by Armenia on June 23, 1993, genocide is considered a crime under international law, regardless of whether it occurs in peacetime or wartime, and states are obligated to prevent and punish it. Article 3 of the convention also stipulates that the incitement to genocide is punishable.

Under Article 15, part 3 of the RA Criminal Code, foreign nationals who commit crimes outside the territory of RA are subject to criminal liability under the RA Criminal Code if they have committed offenses specified in international treaties to which RA is a party.

In light of the above, a criminal case was initiated in the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia regarding the aforementioned remarks under Article 226, part 2, clause 1 and Article 3971 of the RA Criminal Code. The criminal case has been forwarded to the RA Investigative Committee’s Main Military Investigative Department for further investigation.