Gayane Gabrielyan, a resident of Sarnaghbyur village of Askeran region of NK, spent five days in Azerbaijani captivity. The 49-year-old woman gave details to Forrights.am about the September 19 attack and the days of captivity.
Under the conditions of the blockade, September 19 was supposed to be another difficult day for Mrs. Gayane, until she heard the sound of a loud explosion.
“We heard the explosion on the second time. My neighbor started screaming. I heard the children’s voices. I ran to her, she said: the fight is starting, my husband saw troops from Vazgenashen. Gohar and I ran to the village head’s house. When we arrived, we saw everyone gathered there, under the trees,” said Mrs. Gayane, noting that they hid under the trees because Sarnaghbyur was being bombarded.
“They hit us; those who were lucky got injured, some died,” recalls Mrs. Gayane and tells that the village head was able to take the injured and dead children out of the village with a car. She stayed with a few residents in Sarnaghbyur.
Four people were left in the village surrounded by enemies: Gayane, Liana, Gemma and Liparit, the latters are mother and son.
“Liparit and I were seriously injured. Liparit could not move at all. The head of the village had a walkie-talkie, which was left behind after he went. I picked it up and heard my brother Gurgen talking. I said, I am injured and there are four of us left here, help us. Gurgen sent a military car, as soon as it got to us, it broke down. The driver said, ‘Push the car.’ We were injured, but we were pushing,” Ms. Gayane said, noting that she had shrapnel injuries in her leg and abdomen.
It was not possible to start the car. The driver of the car that came to their aid went to the Russian checkpoint to call for help, but never returned. The four remaining residents of Sarnaghbyur went to the village head’s house, where they lived for two days.
“We stayed at the village head’s house for two days, neither an ambulance nor Russians came to help us,” says Mrs. Gayane and notes that they were deprived of all means of communication. The only source of information was Liana, the healthiest of the four, as Gayane and Liparit were wounded, and Gemma was an old woman. She went ou of the houset, walked around the area near the village head’s house and returned.
“We had sheep; we kept them in a closed area. On the third day, Liana went out, came back and said, ‘Dear Gayane, your sheep are out, [that means] your husband has come. I was happy, I said go, tell him to come and help us. She went to the other side of the village head’s house, ran back and said that they were Azerbaijanis. I was lying down covered with blood. When she said that, I fell to the ground. Azerbaijanis came and entered the house. They told us to get up,” Mrs. Gayane remembers how they forced her to get up from the bed.
“He grabbed my hand, made me sit on the bed and said, Common, give me your hand’. They were speaking Russian. The Azerbaijanis grabbed both of my hands, took the three of us and made us sit together under the wall.”
Since the time of captivity, unarmed Armenian women have been under the threat of weapons. Mrs. Gayane remembers how they were pointed in their direction. “The automatic weapons were kept pointed at us. He said, if we wish, we will kill you: our president Aliyev said to kill everyone. Then they started to take pictures of us.”
At that moment Sarnaghbyur had completely passed to the enemy, Azerbaijani soldiers poured into the village and started looting. “They collected money, gold, everything. They messed up the house of the village head. The Ural machine that came to save us and broke, they fixed it, found gasoline at the village head’s house, filled it, and took us to the positions.
Ms. Gayane says that after her capture, they took away her documents, found the badge of the cleaning lady of the village administration and said that she was a sniper. “I said I have nothing to do with the fight. They took the money and gold and returned the documents.”
Throughout the captivity, Mrs. Gayane and others were subjected to psychological and physical abuse. Their fundamental rights were violated. “At the first position, they did not give us bread, water or medical help. They dragged us to the post above Vazgenashen. They threw us into clothes, were pulling us, cursing. Then they took us to Aghdam. There were many Azerbaijanis there. They gave us water and bread. An Azerbaijani doctor kept hitting me on the head and saying, ‘Do you remember Khojalu?’ Liparit was beaten by three or four people.”
On the fifth day, the captive Artsakh residents were taken to Shushi and handed over to the Artsakh rescue service in the town’s streets. Ms. Gayane learned on the last day of captivity that she had to leave Artsakh and her home.
Narek Kirakosyan