Testimonies of the displaced persons recalling the Armenian brutalities in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan:
On April 18, 1994, Binnal Akhmedov, resident of the village of Bashlybeli in the Kelbajar district, saw three Armenian soldiers gun down 10 peaceful civilians at point-blank range and wound 14 others.
On August 17, 1993, Armenian soldiers shot and killed 25 civilian inhabitants, whom they had encircled, of the village of Gajar in the Fizuli district of Azerbaijan.
Rafik Guliev, from the village of Gorgan in the Fizuli district, who was taken hostage by Armenian troops on October 23, 1993, testified after his release that Armenian soldiers had shot dead 30 civilian hostages before his eyes.
Upon retuning from Armenian captivity, Arzu Amralieva reported that on April 18, 1993, 19 people were shot on the spot and 30 were taken hostage from her village.
Fifty-seven year old Hasan Hasanov, reported that on October 23, 1993, 26 out of 40 people detained in the district of Horadiz of Azerbaijan were killed.
Vladimir Shevelev (date of birth 1926), who was taken hostage on June 22, 1994 and released from Yerevan on September 11, 1994, said that Armenians shot and killed his mother, sister and infirm, bed-ridden brother.
The crimes of the Armenian soldiers continued in the captured areas and outside the Mountainous Karabakh region of Azerbaijan; victims included many thousands of inhabitants of the Lachin, Kelbajar, Aghdam, Fizuli, Djebrail, Zangelan and Kubatly districts of Azerbaijan.
On March 31, 1993, during the occupation by the Armenian armed forces of the town of Kelbajar, 29-year-old Samaya Kerimova, and her two-year-old daughter Nurlana were taken hostages. Unable to withstand the mental and physical humiliation to which she and her child were subjected, Samaya twice slit her wrists and eventually killed herself by swallowing poison. Nurlana was freed from captivity, but, because of a head injury, the child, who spent four months in detention, is now blind.
On March 31, 1993, Tahir Guliev, who was born in 1956 and lived in the village of Kilseli in the Kelbajar district, was taken hostage together with his wife, their three-year-old child and close relatives. The vehicle in which they were trying to flee their home was tired on at close range by Armenian soldiers, resulting in the deaths of five and serious injuries to the other passengers. When, with the help of tile ICRC, he returned from being held prisoner by the Armenians, Guliev testified that their Armenian captors subjected Azerbaijani hostages and prisoners of war to savage beatings and insults, and that many of them were unable to withstand this and died. When he complained about this to ICRC representatives, he was badly beaten in front of his wife and daughter.
During the seizure by troops from the Republic of Armenia of the Azerbaijani town of Aghdam, a car containing six members of the Aliyev’s family – two women (one of them elderly), two men (one of them elderly) and two children (aged eight and three) – was fired on as it was heading out of town. The elderly man and the eight-year-old child were killed outright and the other passengers were all wounded, the three-year-old boy, Shovgi Khagani oglu Aliev, in the shoulder. When the Armenian «doctors» operated on him in Khankendi, they removed a third of the humerus and muscles above the elbow of his right arm. Thanks to the efforts of the ICRC the boy, his seriously wounded mother and his grandmother were returned to their homeland. After a medical examination in Baku, doctors concluded that the removal of bone from this three-year-old child had been completely unnecessary and that his wound had not justified such treatment. It is not out of question that the removal was performed for the purposes of transplantation.
The seizure of seven seriously ill patients from Agdam’s psychiatric hospital is a flagrant example of the Armenian soldiers’ crimes. Three of them were released after being held for a year, but three others are languishing to this day in Armenian captivity. The seventh is dead as a result of constant torture.
Ofelia Gulieva, a 16-year-old girl with a bullet wound, was held hostage for more than 18 months. Because of the lack of proper medical assistance, her wound became gangrenous. On 3 June 1994, she suffered further wounds in the stomach and right hand, when a guard acting for the Armenians fired at her with a sub-machine-gun. This led to the amputation of two fingers. She was not released until 28 July 1994, when she was exchanged for an Armenian prisoner of war.
Muryat Agaev, a man from the village of Kurdmahmudlu in the Fizuli district, was taken hostage together with his son Yashar, who was killed before his eyes. He himself was, severely beaten and his ear was cut off. Later, his hands were bound with wire, and he was suspended from a tree above an open fire. His feet were burned.
Sharif Yousifov, born in 1925, a resident of the village of Chaitumas in the Gubatly district and a severely disabled person, was taken hostage on August 30, 1993 during the occupation of the area by the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia. After his release on 8 December 1993, with the help of the ICRC, he testified that Armenian soldiers fed by a battalion commander nicknamed «Mavo» had shot dead his 90-year-old brother, whom he had not even been allowed to bury, and two women who had lived near him. On the day Yousifov was captured, the same battalion commander had his 12 gold teeth torn out. During this detention, he had been subjected to constant beatings, and the Armenian soldiers had confiscated the medicines and clothing furnished by the ICRC. He also said that among his fellow hostages had been a mentally disturbed man, Nazim Radjabov, who had repeatedly been savagely beaten and tormented. On September 14, 11 Azerbaijani soldiers were brought to the prison at Shusha, where Yousifov was held: they had been severely beaten and had had dogs set on them. One of the soldier – subsequently died from his injuries. Yousifov also saw people who died of hunger and cold.
The tragic list of victims of the war against the Azerbaijani people – which has experienced at first hand the monstrous methods of Armenian aggression – is far from complete with the incidents related above.
Alimsha Gasanov, born in 1974, serving in the national army of Azerbaijan, a resident of the Khachmaz district, was wounded and taken prisoner on March 8, 1994 in the Fizuli district. After his release, he testified to the inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, beatings and excessive forced labor.
Faik Mamedov, born in 1971, serving in the national army of Azerbaijan, a resident of the city of Baku, was taken prisoner on September 6, 1992. After his release he reported that, after being wounded, he was tortured and beaten. On November 20 1993, he managed to escape. He testifies that after occupying the Aghdam district the Armenian forces completely burned and destroyed it. The graveyard where his parents were buried was also destroyed. While detained by the Armenians, he saw thousands of hostages and prisoners of war being held in intolerable conditions.
Famil Aliyev, born in 1974, serving in the national army of Azerbaijan, a resident of the city of Baku, was taken prisoner on January 3, 1994 in the district of Aghdam. After his release he stated that while he was in captivity Armenian soldiers stubbed out cigarettes on his body. Aliyev also witnessed massive execution of Azerbaijani prisoners of war by shooting.
Anar Mamedov, born in 1973, serving in the national army, a resident of the Beilagan district, was taken prisoner on September 23, 1993 together with 10 other servicemen. After his release, he stated that the Armenian soldiers had beaten him four or five times each day.
Afin Yahyayev, born in 1968, serving in the national army, a resident of the Ajar district, reported after his release that he and three other servicemen were taken prisoner on 25 April 1994 in the Aghdam district and subjected 10 interrogations and beatings every day. Yakhyaev testified that many prisoners who were unable to bear the humiliation committed suicide.
Magomed Dashdamirov, a resident of the Tovuz district, reports that his son Novruz Dashdamirov, born in 1975, serving in the national army, was taken prisoner in August 1993 during the occupation of the Fizuli district of Azerbaijan by the armed forces from the Republic of Armenia, The father stales that his son was subjected to torture and brutal beatings while in captivity. Although N.Dashdamirov succeeded in escaping from Armenian captivity, he fell sick as a result of the humiliations inflicted on him in detention and is now in a critical condition.
Rasat Akhmedov was taken prisoner by armed forces from the Republic of Armenia on March 7, 1994 during fighting near the village of Seyid-Akhmedli. He and his fellow prisoners of war were beaten with spades and truncheons. He states that on 15 September 1994 prisoner of war Zeinal Makhmudov died as a result of a brutal beating, Akhmedov 24, 1993 from S.Arakelyan, the director of the hospital, which was received through the ICRC, Nasirov died on November 23, 1993 in Erevan’s military hospital (No: 88865), the diagnosis being alimentary dystrophy.
In August 1993, Armenian policemen drove Vekil oglu Zakir in a car to the outskirts of the village of Kirovka in the Marneuli district of Georgia and dumped him there. He died shortly afterwards, without regaining, consciousness, in the district hospital of the town of Gazakh in the Republic of Azerbaijan. An examination revealed that his death was due to starvation and the injuries he had suffered. Doctors found that his entire body was covered with cigarette burns and bruises, that the nails of his right hand and left foot had been torn out and that internal organs had been injured.
