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The former president of Azerbaijan,AyazMutallibov, and Azerbaijani authorities were informed, but did not take up any measure to prevent the capture of the town Khojalu, Azerbaijani news agency APA informs, citing Azerbaijan’s Military Prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev, who added that “one did not need to possess a special information to do that.”

“The Azerbaijani authorities certainly knew about it, but did not take up any measure in order to prevent it. Even after the events, they at least should have organized the evacuation of people from there,” the Military Prosecutor emphasized.

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakhwar, around 200 to 300 people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojalu, coming out through the humanitarian corridor the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other. Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev, the investigative materials are kept secret.