BAKU — The National Security Service of Azerbaijan has arrested former Defense Minister Rahim Gaziyev, who said yesterday that “the Azerbaijani side has 12 casualties” during the hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has only acknowledged 3 deaths and 5 wounded in it’s military.
A statement issued by the Azerbaijani NSS claimed that the high-ranking ex-military “deliberately spread false information, his actions were aimed at weakening Azerbaijan’s defense capabilities, openly calling for riots and forcible seizure of state power.”
Gazi, 77, headed the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry from 1992 to 1993.
