YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani authorities have arrested the country’s former Defense Minister Rahim Ghaziyev for what they call “spreading targeted provocative disinformation on social media, making calls to citizens on public disorders and capturing state bodies”.

Ghaziyev, who was in office from 1992 to 1993, has been charged with two Criminal Code articles – “calls against the state” and “provocation”.

Ghaziyev was actually arrested after he claimed in a statement that 12 Azerbaijani troops were killed in action in the latest clashes at the Armenian border.

The military attack launched by Azerbaijan on an Armenian military base, and the shelling of civilian settlement in Tavush province, and the complete failure of this offensive has created a difficult situation for Baku, which is trying to conceal the real numbers of its losses, and the arrest of Ghaziyev pursuing the goal.

Azerbaijani troops launched an attack on an Armenian military base in Tavush province, using artillery, mortar shells and UAVs. The Azerbaijani military also shelled the town of Chinari with 120mm mortars, damaging civilian homes.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan