Former Azerbaijani Defence Minister detained after shelling attacks on border

Ragim Gaziev is accused of engagement in activities aimed against the state and calls for the seizure of public institutions, the State Security Service of Azerbaijan reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, three Armenian soldiers have been hospitalized after a shelling attack from the Azerbaijani side, the authorities of Armenia reported. The total number of deceased and wounded in shelling attacks which took place on July 12 and 13 on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia reached 13 people.

"Ragim Gaziev is suspected of having disseminated on social networks the false information about the essence of events which took place on July 12 and 13 during the armed clashed caused by enemy provocations on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. Thereby, Ragim Gaziev was committing actions aimed at weakening the defence capability of Azerbaijan," the State Security Service and General Prosecutor's of Azerbaijan declared.

Moreover, Ragim Gaziev is accused of calling for "riots and a violent seizure of power."

Ragim Gaziev was the Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan from 1992 to 1993. In the autumn of 1993, he was arrested in the case "on the occupation by the Armenian troops of the cities of Shusha and Lachin in Nagorno-Karabakh in May 1992." In 1994, Ragim Gaziev escaped from a detention facility and was hiding in Russia until 1996. In 1995, he was sentenced in absentia to capital punishment, later replaced by life imprisonment. Ragim Gaziev was pardoned and released in 2005.