PHOTOS: What Samvel Babayan said about the 44-day war. Excerpt from testimony. "Hraparak"

The newspaper "Hraparak" has published photographs, reporting that: "We had written that the former Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh, Samvel Babayan, was interrogated in connection with the criminal case initiated by the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office regarding the 44-day war and the trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020, and we published an excerpt from his testimony, where Babayan states that during the 44-day war, senior officials of Artsakh made two appeals to Prime Minister Pashinyan, requesting the cessation of the war at all costs.

He said that the initial request came from former Artsakh presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and then-current President Arayik Harutyunyan, and the second time from the political forces represented in the National Assembly of Artsakh. Information about Babayan's interrogation was also confirmed by former Chief Prosecutor of Artsakh, later State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan, the head of the special investigation department of the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office Davit Dallakyan, and acting Chief Prosecutor of Artsakh Karen Gabrielian.

Despite these statements from these individuals, Samvel Babayan persistently denied ever being interrogated. "I have not been interrogated by the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office; there are people who want to be 'publicists,' saying that I have been interrogated," Babayan stated in our conversation, hinting at Gurgen Nersisyan.

Just 6 days ago, Babayan's office issued a statement saying: "Former Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh Samvel Babayan has not been interrogated by the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office in relation to the 44-day war and the trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020. He was interrogated by the investigative group led by Davit Dallakyan based on his own request concerning a well-known criminal case from the 2000s and a report submitted by some NGOs regarding the potential overthrow of the constitutional order." However, that second case is precisely the same case that we have been writing about extensively. In terms of war-related circumstances, Babayan was interrogated under the framework of the case concerning the overthrow of the constitutional order.

We present a part of Babayan's testimony, which pertains to the organization of mobilization in Armenia and Artsakh during the 44-day war and the bombing of Ganja Airport.

Investigator: "How would you assess the process of organizing mobilization in Armenia and Artsakh during the days of the war? Was it sufficient or not, and if not, what, according to you, were the reasons for the shortcomings?"

Samvel Babayan: "The mobilization was planned poorly. The personnel were not correctly distributed according to military specialties and areas. In other words, the staff was not allocated based on military specialties, and the personnel were not familiar with the terrain and were unable to perform combat tasks... Mobilization, one could say, did not take place; there were many cases of desertion. To prevent cases of desertion, work should have been done by the police and the National Security Service of Artsakh, while, to my knowledge, many conscripted citizens managed to leave the territory of Artsakh unhindered or remained in Artsakh but hid. The responsibility for the preparatory phase of mobilization rested with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces and the Deputy Commander of the Defense Army of Artsakh. Those who held these positions over the past 20 years have performed their duties inadequately."

Note: Samvel Babayan's testimony contains very interesting episodes, and we will present some excerpts from them in the near future," the newspaper writes.