Speaker describes Shaki incident as “a crime,” highlights Azerbaijani communication over serviceman

Armenia’s Parliament Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, a senior member of the Civil Contract party, has described the October 1 incident in Shaki, Syunik Province, involving an Azerbaijani serviceman who entered a civilian home and opened fire, as a crime, while highlighting Azerbaijan’s communication with Armenia after the serviceman was reported missing before the shooting.

Rubinyan made the remarks at the October 6 session of Parliament, responding to a question from Marianna Ghahramanyan, an opposition MP from the Strong Armenia faction.

The MP asked whether the Parliament Speaker, as a representative of the political force that is “nurturing the peace process,” intends to express a clear political position on the incident that took place in the Shaki settlement.

Ghahramanyan stressed that the issue was not only about illegally crossing the border: the armed Azerbaijani serviceman entered the home of an Armenian citizen and opened fire on a woman, while the children were also injured. The MP described the incident as an action that undermines the peace process.

In response, Rubinyan said that what happened was a crime:

“Of course, what happened is a crime. I mean, if a person enters someone’s home and opens fire, that is a crime. Did you notice that charges have been brought and that he has been detained? Did you notice that?”

The Parliament Speaker also emphasized that the serviceman had apparently violated not only Armenian law but also Azerbaijani law by deserting his place of service.

Responding to the answer, Ghahramanyan clarified that she expected a political, rather than a criminal-legal, assessment. She repeated her question, stressing the impact of such incidents on the peace process.

“The political assessment is the following: a crime has been committed by an Azerbaijani serviceman who illegally crossed Armenia’s border. Now, is it bad that a crime has occurred? Of course, it is very bad. Does this mean that this can be perceived negatively, including from the perspective of peace? The answer is yes. Is it good that the Azerbaijani side, as soon as it saw that its serviceman was missing and assumed that he might have entered Armenia, informed the Armenian side? Yes, it is very good. If there were no peace, that would not have happened,” Rubinyan replied.

He also referred to similar incidents that had occurred in the past, emphasizing the difference between this incident and previous cases.

“I’ll say more: before this incident, there had been many cases when a serviceman from our side ended up on their side, and a serviceman from their side ended up on our side, and, thank God, without any incidents. They informed each other and returned them. I’m not saying this in the context of the incident, I’m not saying that, because a crime has occurred,” the Parliament Speaker said.

Armenia’s National Security Service said last Thursday that it had been notified by Azerbaijani authorities earlier, on September 29, that an Azerbaijani serviceman had allegedly gone AWOL and was missing. The Azerbaijani side did not rule out that he could have crossed into Armenia. Armenia and Azerbaijan conducted a search operation. Later, on October 1, Armenian emergency services received a report that an Armenian citizen, a 39-year-old woman, had been shot in the leg at her home in the Shaki settlement in Syunik Province. Authorities determined that the Azerbaijani serviceman was the shooter, and he was apprehended shortly afterward in Shaki and detained.

Meanwhile, health authorities said earlier last week that the woman is in non-life-threatening condition and is receiving the required treatment. She was transferred to Yerevan after being initially hospitalized in Sisian. The Sisian Medical Center reported that the injured Armenian citizen’s children, who were with their mother during the incident, aged 15 and 12, had sought medical assistance for bodily injuries. The 12-year-old child had a soft-tissue contusion, while the 15-year-old child had a fracture of the right wrist. Health authorities said Friday that the children are in satisfactory condition.

The Azerbaijani serviceman faces charges of illegally crossing Armenia’s state border, smuggling military-use products, firearms and ammunition, illegally trafficking in firearms and ammunition, illegally entering another person’s residence against their will, and causing grievous bodily harm under aggravating circumstances, including with a firearm.