Azernews.Az

Qabil Ashirov

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Today, during a continuing session at the Baku Military Court, defendant Arkadi Ghukasyan responded to questions regarding the Khojaly massacre—one of the darkest chapters of the First Garabagh War—where hundreds of innocent Azerbaijani civilians were systematically killed on the night of February 25–26, 1992, solely on the grounds of their ethnicity.

Ghukasyan claimed he first received information about the events in Khojaly in February 1992 through what he referred to as "official sources."

"At the time, we didn’t fully grasp the scale of the tragedy. We knew that hundreds of Azerbaijanis had been brought to Khankendi from Khojaly. Later, they were handed over to the other side," he stated.

Ghukasyan also expressed condemnation of the killing of civilians, calling it "unacceptable" and describing the incident as "one of the bloody pages of war."

The trial, which is still ongoing, involves Armenian citizens accused of a wide array of grave crimes, including war crimes, crimes against peace and humanity, the planning and conduct of aggressive war, genocide, violations of the laws and customs of war, terrorism, financing terrorism, the violent seizure and retention of power, and numerous other serious offenses, all committed in the context of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan.