On 9 October, 2021, at around 1:20 pm, a resident of Martakert was wounded in the chest and died on the spot from a shot fired from an Azerbaijani position about a kilometer away while working with agricultural machinery on the arable land in the administrative territory of Martakert city community, Aram Aleksey Tepnants, born in 1966, a resident of Martakert.
Before starting the agricultural works, taking into account the border of the area, the Russian peacekeepers came to the area through the mediation of the representatives of Martakert city community and the Defense Army of the Republic of Azerbaijan to ensure the safety of the works. According to preliminary information, the driver initially avoided driving agricultural machinery, but one of the peacekeepers offered to sit with him in person in the cabin as an additional guarantee of safety. According to eyewitnesses, they made several turns in that way.
On the same day, a criminal case was initiated on the fact, according to Article 103, Part 2, Clause 14 of the Criminal Code of the Artsakh Republic (murder committed on the grounds of national, racial or religious hatred or religious fanaticism). An investigation is underway.
After the incident, the agricultural works were stopped not only in that, but also in other border areas.
Taking into account the agreement reached between the Prosecutors General of the Republic of Armenia, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the operative exchange of information on criminal cases in the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line, the information on the killing of a civilian by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces representatives, the available information on the murder case was passed to the representatives of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office located in Artsakh; operative and effective cooperation was ensured with them. Full readiness was expressed to be involved in the investigation of the case with all possible dimensions, the necessity of which the RA Prosecutor General has repeatedly stressed.
The mentioned case is a gross violation of the provisions of the trilateral ceasefire statement signed between the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on 10 November, 2020.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia will be consistent in the implementation of the agreements reached, with a clear position that by providing fair and criminal liability of those guilty in these and other similar cases, it is possible to create stable guarantees to exclude such tragic cases and clearly fix ceasefire violations to the responsible party with the legal consequences arising from it.
