"I went to war voluntarily in 1992, and a year later, on September 26, 1993, I was besieged and taken captive," Elman Hajiyev, who was a captive in Armenia during the First Karabakh War, said in his testimony at the court trial on the case of Armenian servicemen Ludwig Mkrtichyan and Khosrovyan Alyosha Aramaisovich, who are charged with subjecting Azerbaijanis to brutal torture.
According to him, he was repeatedly tortured by Mkrtichyan: "When I was taken captive, I was beaten so badly that I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found myself in Aghdara with my hands tied and my neck chained. For two days, I ate only pickled cabbage. They did not open the chain around my neck so that I could escape. Then I was taken to Shusha prison. After being detained there for two months, they took me to Khojavend district. They forced us to work in construction in Khojavend. I met Ludvig Mkrtichyan there. There was a farm in Khojavend, where animal feed was brought at night. We started to empty it. Mkrtichyan and several others were drunk and started beating us. I told Mkrtichyan, "We will meet someday, and I will revenge." He did not like the word and began to beat with the butt of the machine gun and the armature. They broke my nose and threw me into the mud. I lost my eyesight because of being beaten and mud. Then I was put in a UAZ again and taken to Shusha prison.
During my captivity, they made us work on constructing the house of the brother of the former "defense minister" of the separatist regime, Samvel Babayan. They demolished houses from Fizuli and Aghdam districts, we carried them, and they built farms. Those who destroyed these districts were also Azerbaijani captives. We built two pig farms, a chicken farm, and a granary in Khojavend. They were all belonged to Samvel Babayan's brother. Armenian masters shouted that "the mud is late," and Mkrtichyan came every time to beat and torture me with a machine gun. They gave one loaf of bread to 6 people a day, nothing else."
"Then we were brought to Khankendi to build a house for Karol Bayan. They also built a 4-storey villa for Samvel Babayan near his house, and we worked for them. Armenians took black marbles out of our cemetery and built monuments in their cemeteries. The red marbles were used on the stairs of Samvel Babayan's villa. Ludwig, Arthur, Karen, and others tortured us in Shusha prison. Mkrtichyan tortured us one by one using electricity. He once used an electric shock against me, then hit me with wood on a broom and broke my nose. Mkrtichyan brought me to the front of the prison. He forced me to lay the tiles on the ground without mud. He said, "Make sure that the tile does not move." It was also impossible, and I could not stand up straight. Then Mkrtichyan started beating me. He said, "If you suddenly decide to run away, I will torture you to death." I still suffer those tortures. I have injuries on my knees, and I am treated every year for pain in my kidneys. When the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the Shusha prison, we were instructed beforehand to praise the Armenians and the conditions of detention, otherwise, they would torture in the evening. We did not complain because of fear, "said the victim.