Azerbaijani soldier who entered Armenia fired at local residents

On 1 October, an Azerbaijani soldier entered the village of Shaki in Armenia’s Syunik Province. He shot a 39-year-old local woman in the leg with an assault rifle. The incident happened in front of her three children, two of whom also suffered injuries.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against Nasim Musayev.

The Armenian National Security Service issued a brief statement only after people began discussing the incident on social media. It emerged that Azerbaijan’s State Security Service had informed its Armenian counterparts on 29 September that a serviceman had left his unit under unknown circumstances.

“Authorities could not rule out the possibility that he had illegally crossed into Armenia. The competent authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan then launched search operations,” the statement said.

According to Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities, Nasim Musayev went missing on 26 September.

It remains unclear when he entered Armenian territory. Authorities found and detained him only after he committed the crime.

Armenian analysts point to previous similar cases in which Azerbaijanis who illegally crossed the border and committed crimes went back to Azerbaijan. They expect authorities to punish the Azerbaijani serviceman to the full extent of the law this time as well. If Armenian authorities decide to return him to Azerbaijan, they suggest taking into account the fact that 19 Armenian prisoners remain in Baku’s jails.

The incident has sparked outrage in Armenian society and prompted widespread discussion on social media. Against the backdrop of repeated statements by the authorities that peace has arrived, users commented on the incident with the short phrase: “Long live peace.”

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Witness accounts

“My brother and sister came home from their classes and saw that the window was broken. They called our mother. She and our father came by car. My mother had a knife in her hand. She always kept it with her in case something like this happened, so she could protect herself. My mother went inside and stabbed him with the knife. The man then fired a shot and ran away,” the injured woman’s son told a local media outlet.

Meanwhile, her sister said the Azerbaijani man took the children hostage, while their mother, who tried to protect them, lost three fingers on her left hand.

In an interview with Radio Azatutyun (Freedom), she said her sister’s two children were talking to their parents on the phone as they walked home from school. They then saw that the lock on their front door had been broken. When they entered the house, they saw an Azerbaijani soldier in the living room. They tried to call their mother for help, but the Azerbaijani man took their phone away.

According to the injured woman’s sister, the Azerbaijani man was pointing his weapon at the children when their mother entered the house. She tried to cover the barrel with her hand. Musayev then fired, causing her to lose fingers on her left hand.

The sister also said the injured woman had to defend herself. While the soldier tried to reload his rifle, she stabbed him several times. However, the soldier struck her and knocked her unconscious. Her 15-year-old son then fought with the Azerbaijani man and suffered a broken arm.

The health of the mother and children

The woman suffered gunshot wounds to her thigh and arm. She first received medical treatment at a medical centre in Sisian and then went to a clinic in Yerevan.

According to reports, her life is not in danger and her condition remains stable. However, she needs surgery.

The woman’s 15-year-old and 12-year-old sons also suffered injuries.

“The child born in 2014 has soft-tissue bruising, while the child born in 2011 has a fracture of the right wrist.”

Doctors put a cast on the boy with the fracture. The other boy needed psychological support.

Information from Yerevan and Baku

There is little official information about the incident.

The Armenian National Security Service initially issued a statement:

“At 14:15 on 1 October, the 112 emergency centre of the Interior Ministry received a report that an Armenian citizen had suffered a gunshot wound to the leg in the settlement of Shaki in Syunik Province. Operational teams from various police units went to the scene. They took urgent measures to establish all the circumstances of the incident. They established that an Azerbaijani serviceman had committed the crime and detained him.”

Armenian authorities reportedly passed details of the incident to the Azerbaijani side.

Baku provided information about the serviceman who crossed the border only after the incident in Shaki.

According to Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Nasim Musayev went missing from his military unit in Lachin on 26 September. Authorities opened a criminal case over his disappearance. The investigation confirmed suspicions that Musayev had left the military unit voluntarily.

“As a result of the measures taken, authorities established that Nasimi Musayev was in Armenia and that the relevant authorities of that country had detained him,” Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities said.

They also stressed that they were working with their Armenian counterparts to establish the details of the incident.

Criminal cases opened

Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced yesterday that it had opened a criminal case under charges of “causing serious bodily harm with the use of a weapon”, “illegal possession of a firearm” and “violation of the inviolability of a home”.

The omission of the illegal border crossing from the statement sparked outrage in Armenia.

Today, the authorities said they had added charges of illegally crossing the border and smuggling a firearm.

Analysts’ views

Political analyst Suren Surenyants highlighted the fact that the Armenian side received information about a possible border violation at least two days before the incident:

“It is worrying that, despite the warning and the announced search, authorities found Musayev in Shaki only after he used a firearm against an Armenian citizen. The search operations did not prevent him from potentially crossing the border illegally, entering Shaki or opening fire.”

According to Surenyants, the authorities need to clarify the following:

• how the Azerbaijani serviceman crossed the state border and travelled from Lachin to Shaki,
• where he entered Armenian territory, how he bypassed border controls and security systems,
• why authorities failed to find him either within two days of the warning or roughly five days after he disappeared,
• what legal procedures await the Azerbaijani serviceman?

“Authorities have already opened a criminal case. The next question is whether they will bring the case to its legal conclusion, meaning conduct a full investigation into the circumstances of the illegal border crossing and the use of a weapon against an Armenian citizen, or whether political agreements will determine the case,” he stressed.

The political analyst also expects answers to the following questions:

• if Armenia considers handing Musayev over to Azerbaijan, will it raise the issue of returning Armenian prisoners held in Baku?
• what legal and political conditions could determine such a decision?

Surenyants noted that, more broadly, the incident exposed the lack of effective border control in Armenia.

Azerbaijan expert Tatevik Hayrapetyan suggested viewing the events in Shaki in the context of previous cases. She recalled:

• in 2019, Armenian authorities, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, returned Elvin Ibrahimov to Azerbaijan after he illegally crossed Armenia’s state border. They described the decision as a “humanitarian step”.
• in 2023, Azerbaijan also received Huseyn Akhundov, who killed 56-year-old Hayrapet Meliksetyan in Armenia and received a 20-year prison sentence.

Tatevik Hayrapetyan stressed that Armenia should rule out a similar approach in this case:

“An attack on the life and safety of an Armenian citizen cannot lead to the return of the perpetrator to Azerbaijan under ‘humanitarian’ pretexts. The authorities must investigate this case to the full extent of the law. If they establish his guilt, the perpetrator must serve the sentence prescribed by law.”

Comments on social media

“The incident involving the Azerbaijani soldier has once again shown the situation at the border. It is a good thing he came alone. He could have come with an entire army, and we would have greeted them with a large ‘Welcome to Armenia’ banner.”

“It turns out that an armed man can cross the state border unhindered, move around for several days, reach a settlement and harm a civilian. This, in turn, means that once again, the citizen has been left alone to fight for his own safety.”

“Peace means that, in ‘peacetime’, an Azerbaijani soldier cannot show up at your home and harm you in front of your children. By 29 September, authorities already knew that an Azerbaijani soldier had left his military unit, and the Armenian side had received information about it. Where was state control once authorities learned that the soldier had left his unit? What measures did they take to prevent him from entering Armenian territory? Where was the government that promised ‘peace’ during the recent election campaign?”

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