Azerbaijani soldier detained in Karabakh on several charges including espionage

The National Security Service of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reported that on August 25, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Jamil Babayev was found in one of the apartments in the city of Martakert. He threatened the children in the house and demanded food. Law enforcement agencies of Nagorno-Karabakh detained the Azerbaijani soldier and launched a criminal case against him on several charges.

Babayev is accused of espionage, illegal crossing of the state border, and threatening underage residents of the said apartment with murder – an investigation into it is underway.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that the serviceman Jamil Babayev voluntarily left the psychiatric ward of the hospital in Ganja.

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Reports from Armenia

The information headquarters under the government of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reports that a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Jamil Babayev was detained in the city of Martakert, on Teryan Street.

Even before the official statement was released, Armenian media had reported that an Azerbaijani soldier entered one of the houses of Martakert. There were only two teenagers in the house at that time and the soldier threatened them, demanding food and cigarettes. He was fed, after which one of the teenagers promised to go to the store to buy him cigarettes. He left the house and called the police.

Now Jamil Babayev is detained by the NKR National Security Service.

Users of the Armenian Facebook segment are perplexed – how the Azerbaijani soldier managed to get into the residential quarters of Martakert if the nearest Azerbaijani post is located almost two kilometers away.

Reports from Azerbaijan

“Private Jamil Natig oglu Babayev, a soldier of the extra-urgent active military service of the Azerbaijani army, left the psychiatric department of the Ganja hospital without permission”, the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

“In this regard, a criminal case has been launched, an investigation is underway.

It is assumed that the Azerbaijani soldier crossed to the territory where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily stationed”, the statement says.

In the Azerbaijani segment of social media, users drew attention to the equipment of a serviceman detained in Karabakh, more specifically, to the fact is that he was wearing the uniform of a serviceman of Azerbaijan of the 1918 model – the times of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

“Interestingly, people cannot visit their native lands: they fall on the planted mines, then the police detain them. And then a mentally ill person walked from Ganja to Agdere [the Azerbaijani name for Mardakert is JAMnews] and in a military uniform that can only be obtained in museums”, one of the users commented on the incident.