Investigative group created over Armenians' killing of little Zahra

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

A special investigative group has been created over the Alkhanli tragedy.

Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov said that the investigative group will investigate murder of two Azerbaijani civilians, 18-month-old Zehra and her grandmother following the Armenian armed forces’ shelling of the village with heavy artillery.

Garalov reminded that the Armenian armed forces, flagrantly violating all norms of international humanitarian law and the ceasefire regime, fired the Alkhanli village with heavy artillery on July 4. As a result, 51-year-old Sahiba Allahverdiyeva and her toddler granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva were killed. In addition, 52-year-old Salminaz Guliyeva suffered shrapnel wounds, and the personal property of citizens was deliberately destroyed.

Thus, the Fuzuli Region Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case under relevant articles on all these facts, and an investigative group was created to carry out urgent investigative actions.

Azerbaijan’s villages in Fuzuli, Agdam, Jabrayil, Tartar and other frontline regions frequently face destructive acts by Armenian soldiers. By committing such provocations, the Armenian side deliberately seeks to cause harm to Azerbaijani people by making life at the border difficult and risky for them.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no results so far.