One of the most horrible tragedies, which Azerbaijan experienced in the 20th century, is the genocide in hocali. It is like the genocides committed in Khatyn, Lidisia, Oradur reflected in the history of mankind.
In the early hours of February 26, the armed forces of Armenia, the armed Armenian militants of the Nagorno-Karabakh, and Motor-Infantry Battalion 366 of the former Soviet Union dislocated between Askaran and Khankendi (Stepanakert) occupied the town and committed genocide against the Azerbaijanis.
The night, in which the Armenians committed the genocide in Hocali, 613 peaceful residents were murdered with a special cruelty, torture, beheaded, and blinded. Pregnant women were bayoneted; among them were 63 children, 106 women and 70 old men.
The genocide was committed with the participation of Motor-Infantry Regiment No. 366 commanded by Major Seyran Mushegovich Oganyan (at present he is the “defense minister” of the illegal Nagorno-Karabakh regime), companies and platoons of the same battalion commanded by Eugenie Nabokikhin, chief of headquarters of the first battalion Valeri Isayevich Chitchyan and over 50 officers and senior personnel of the Armenian nationality (“Materials of Investigation on the genocide in Hocali”).
A part of the population trying to escape the violence encountered ambushes on the way out of the town and was murdered. According to the materials of the Russian legal-protection “Memorial” centre, 200 Azerbaijani corpses were brought from Hocali to Agdam within four days, and it was discovered that they were subjected to abuses, torture and mutilation. 181 corpses (130 men, 51 women and 13 children) were examined by court-medical experts who determined that 151 of them were shot, 20 of them died of wounds due to the fragmentation of shells and 10 of them were beaten to death by blunt tools. There are facts evidencing that the skulls of live men were flayed.