16 Soldiers Charged, 6 Arrested: Investigative Committee Reveals Details of September Aggression

The Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee has summarized the results of the investigation concerning the military aggression carried out by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia on September 13-14, 2022.

Accordingly, in relation to the act of aggression, a criminal case was initiated under Article 140, Part 1, Clause 2, and Article 149, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code. During the investigation, approximately 100 scene inspections were conducted in about 15 communities in the Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor, and Syunik provinces. As a result of these inspections and preliminary data obtained during the investigation, damages to the communities have been established, including the destruction or damage of municipal buildings, fire and rescue service facilities, schools, three guesthouses, a hall for events, over 100 private residential houses, barns, greenhouses, around ten civilian vehicles, road networks, burned grasslands and forest areas, fruit orchards, and more.

Additionally, six military units, military facilities, and equipment located in the specified provinces, including two medical service vehicles, suffered damages. In the framework of the criminal case, over 70 forensic examinations have been assigned, including explosive, fire-technical, construction-technical, commodity expertise, as well as botanical examinations.

During the investigation, more than 600 individuals were recognized as victims and interrogated, and over 1,000 witnesses were questioned. A total of 224 forensic examinations of dead bodies have been appointed, along with 98 genetic and over 350 medical forensic examinations. According to the acquired data during the investigation, as a result of the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan, 224 individuals were killed from the Armenian side, including three civilians, while the whereabouts of three soldiers remain unknown.

Furthermore, regarding various crimes committed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan during this aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia, an additional 23 criminal cases have been initiated within the divisions of the RA Investigative Committee, which have been combined into a single proceeding.

Specifically, the investigation focuses on cases such as:

• Desecration of the bodies of killed Armenian soldiers (including women) in the battlefield by Azerbaijani military personnel;
• Serious violations against more than twenty Armenian servicemen, who enjoyed protection under international law and were in a prisoner of war status, including insults, sexual slurs, and other derogatory expressions that demeaned their honor and dignity, as well as acts of torture and inhumane treatment;
• Incidents of violence and torture inflicted on an Armenian serviceman held captive, leading to his death;
• The documented shooting and killing of a group of Armenian prisoners of war by the Azerbaijani armed forces during military aggression;
• Video evidence showing the use of violence against injured Armenian soldiers, which, according to the investigation, occurred on September 13, 2022, in a military unit’s underground facility that was seized during the operation.

The remains of Armenian servicemen who were alive and identified in the video as prisoners of war were later transferred to the Armenian side.

Also being investigated are incidents involving the illegal and arbitrary destruction and appropriation of large properties belonging to residents from the communities of Jermuk in the Vayots Dzor province and Gorhayk in the Syunik province, and several communal properties belonging to various military units of the RA Ministry of Defense.

Moreover, a group of four Armenian members, formed to retrieve the bodies of fallen Armenian soldiers from captured positions, were not allowed to return back on September 15, 2022 (after negotiations, they were returned to the Armenian side).

The immense investigative and operational measures continue within the unified criminal proceeding to identify the Azerbaijani military personnel who committed the crimes, initiate criminal prosecution against them, and flesh out the full scope of the committed war crimes.

In addition to the aforementioned, despite the robust resistance shown by the RA armed forces during the mentioned military aggression against the territorial integrity of Armenia, certain actions of specific representatives of the RA armed forces are also under investigation for violations of the rules of combat service, leaving individuals in a state of helplessness who were in dangerous situations for their lives or health, failure to perform official duties during combat, and other actions undermining military discipline.

In relation to these cases, 22 criminal proceedings have been initiated, and charges have been brought against 16 soldiers, of whom six have been arrested, while the others are subject to a prohibition from leaving.

Six of the mentioned criminal proceedings have been referred to court with a prosecutorial conclusion, while investigations into the others continue.