Dissemination of reports aiming to cause confusion in the public is inadmissible and bears responsibility

Baku, 2 February (AZERTAC). “Top officers of the Dashkesan military unit N have been brought to justice”, Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Republic Zakir Garalov told the AZERTAC correspondent.

The Prosecutor General, in particular, said:

“A fatal criminal case resulted with the death of soldiers and officers took place in the military unit N in the country`s Dashkesan region on January 28, 2010.

President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev was immediately informed about the incident and on the instruction of the head of state the top officials of the Military Prosecutor Office, as well as high-ranking experts of the Defense and National Security ministries of republic were sent to the site to investigate the reasons of the incident”.

As stated, the Military Prosecutor Office launched criminal investigation to the case. Special group of military prosecuting officers and military secret service of the National Security Ministry started urgent investigative-operational actions. “These actions are underway and today”, Garalov stressed. “The investigation of this tragic event is under the daily control of the President and all necessary measures are being taken to investigate it. The Defense Ministry and the Military Prosecutor Office have informed the public about the event, but separate persons make preconceived statements in the press and give different versions speculating about the incident for their political goals. They propose groundless versions trying to mislead the community and thus insult self-esteem of the families of killed soldiers and officers.

Prosecutor General Office of the Azerbaijan Republic states that biased media reports aiming to cause confusion in the public, cast shadow on the work done in the field of army building are inadmissible and bear responsibility stipulated in the legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic.

The Prosecutor General said several persons had been arrested in connection with the incident.

As a result of the operations, officials of the said military unit, deputy commander of the division, Major Veled Gurbanov, and platoon commander, Senior Lieutenant Rustam Ahmadov were held responsible and arrested, in accordance with relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, for quitting the division, on January 28, 2010, after distributing arms among soldiers for cleaning, and leaving them uncontrolled and not ensuring their security, and also for other cases of power abuse during the performance of their military duties.

Currently, necessary investigative measures are being taken to determine and hold accountable other offenders of the case. The public will be regularly informed about the investigation results.