Madat Babayan admits involvement in Khojaly massacre

In a session held today at the Baku Military Court, defendant Madat Babayan admitted to participating in the 1992 Khojaly massacre as part of the Armenian armed forces.

According to Report, during his testimony, Babayan confirmed he was present in Khojaly on February 25 and 26, 1992, and said: “Our group leader, Henrik Tamrazyan, took us there. The goal was to drive Azerbaijanis out of Khojaly.”

He stated that all orders in Khojaly were issued by Arkadi Shirinyan, known by the nickname "Kholostoy", while their direct commands came from Vanik Petrosyan. “Vanik ordered us to open fire on unarmed civilians. He and Arkadi were the ones who mutilated people —cutting off fingers and ears,” Babayan revealed.

He confirmed that the unit entered Khojaly heavily armed, using armored vehicles, and admitted to participating in the killing of defenseless civilians. “We were wrong,” he said.

Babayan also testified that he personally witnessed around 150 bodies in Khojaly, including women, children, and the elderly. He added that the corpses were collected by Armenian soldiers and loaded into vehicles.

The trial of several Armenian citizens accused of numerous crimes—including war crimes, crimes against humanity, preparation and execution of aggressive war, genocide, terrorism, financing of terrorism, and attempts to violently seize and retain power—will resume on April 21.