The law enforcement bodies find that the head of the headquarters of the most ordinary battalion of the most ordinary military unit—with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel Arsen Ghazaryan, is responsible for the defeat. Vahan Hovhannisyan, the lawyer of Ghazaryan who is accused in the capture of 62 Shirak Province residents by Azerbaijan, said this at a press conference Monday.
"Many people think that the highest bodies of our political or military authorities (…) are guilty of handing over Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd [villages in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] and capturing of 62 people, but in reality this is not the case," the lawyer said, in particular.
According to Hovhannisyan, Arsen Ghazaryan is a long-term officer with many years of experience.
Referring to the charge brought against Lieutenant Colonel Ghazaryan, the lawyer noted that the body conducting this proceeding had departed from the current procedure for deciding this charge, and the latter was not clear.
Touching upon the attack by the Azerbaijani army to Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd, Vahan Hovhannisyan stated that Arsen Ghazaryan, being deployed in the area, had carried out the order by his commanding officer.
"The actual attack on the villages of Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd took place on December 13. On December 13, the Armenian communication operators are accidentally disconnected in the given area. If before that at least it was possible to contact the subordinate divisions with mobile phones, there was no mobile connection on the day of the incident.
The body conducting the proceedings needs to take certain actions to find out how the connection was accidentally cut off on the day of the attack of the Azerbaijani troops and it was not possible to carry out a proper defense. The Armenian side was armed with machine guns, whereas the Azerbaijani servicemen—armed to the teeth," the attorney said.