Russian Armenian arrested in Baku says he had left for Karabakh on assignment by Azerbaijan special services

News.am, Armenia
July 8 2021

Eduard Dubakov, a Russian citizen arrested in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, claims that he had left for Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) on the instructions of the Azerbaijani special services.

Dubakov is presumably of Armenian origin.

He was arrested on charges of plotting a terrorist attack in Baku—and on the instructions of the Armenian side.

According to Turan news agency, a certificate provided by the Federal Service of Russia confirmed that Eduard Dubakov had traveled to Armenia from Russia several times in 2018-2019.

Other documents were also announced to reaffirm Dubakov's visit to Karabakh.

Dubakov has denied all charges.

At the court session on June 30, he had declared that he had been attracted to cooperation by the Azerbaijani special services in Belarus in 2018 and visited Karabakh on their instructions.

According to Dubakov, in January 2021 he was summoned to Baku to get a monetary reward and a new instruction, but he was detained.

His trial will resume on July 14.

Officers of the consular service of the Russian Embassy in Baku were allowed to see Dubakov at the stage of the investigation. The representatives of this diplomatic mission are also monitoring the trial.

Under an indictment, on January 14 this year, he had arrived in Baku via Turkey to commit an act of terror, but he was detained by Azerbaijani special services.

A criminal case was initiated against Dubakov under the Azerbaijan Criminal Code Articles 214-3.1 (terrorism, financing of terrorism), 218.2 (participation in a criminal community (criminal organization) or in an association of organizers, leaders or other representatives of organized groups), and 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of the Azerbaijan Republic).

He faces a sentence of up to 15 years of imprisonment.