Witness: Kocharyan funneled funds from Armenia to armed groups in Azerbaijan

Artur Abramyan, a witness in the ongoing trial at the Baku Military Court, revealed today that Robert Kocharyan received money from Yerevan and passed it to Murad Petrosyan, who then distributed the funds among members of illegal armed formations operating in Azerbaijani territories.

Report quotes Abramyan as saying he was informed by Samvel that a rocket had been launched at Shusha from the Topkhana forest by a group including Samvel, Ashot, Karо, Sasun, and Arthur (nicknamed "Afghan"). Their target was to destroy the city’s population. He added that material support for the illegal Armenian armed formations (IAF) in Azerbaijan came from Yerevan, with funds delivered to the sovereign Azerbaijani territories by Vazgen Manukyan, Deputy Chairman of the Armenian Supreme Council, via helicopter.

Kocharyan, then, would receive and hand these funds to Petrosyan in Khankandi in the presence of Abramyan. Petrosyan used this money to support the armed groups operating on Azerbaijani soil.

In early October 1989, Petrosyan met with his group members, including Akop, Abo, Slavik, Ashot, and Gago, instructing them to blow up a bridge to blockade Shusha.

During additional video-recorded testimony on June 28 and 29, 1991, Abramyan reiterated these statements, confirming that financial aid to the illegal armed groups in Azerbaijan was coordinated by Manukyan, with Kocharyan managing the funds in Khankandi.