UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE

On the instruction of the State Commission on War Prisoners, Hostages and Missing People of the Azerbaijan Republic, I, Derrick John Pounder, performed post-mortem examinations of the bodies of ten persons at the forensic Medicine and Anatomical Pathology Institute of the Scientific Practical and Training Board of the Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the city of Baku. The autopsy examinations began at 11.50 hours on Thursday 7th April 1994 and finished at 16.10 on Friday 8th april 1994.
The bodies were identified to me by dr. Zabit Mamedov as those deceased war prisoners whose bodies were released by the Republic of Armenia and transferred by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Baku, Azerbaijan, march 3rd and 24th 1994. The bodies were individually identified to me prior to each autopsy examination by dr. Zabit Mamedov. During the conduct of ten autopsy examinations Dr. Zabit Mamedov , Dr. Mansur Buniatov, Dr. Vugar Mamedov and Mr. Igor Kravets (mortuary technician) were present throughout.
As a result of my examinations I prepared ten individual autopsy reports relating to each of the deceased. I concluded that the causes of death were as follows:

As a result of my examinations I concluded that in all ten cases autopsy examinations had been performed in Armenia and I confirmed that autopsies had again been performed on each of the ten individuals following receipt of the bodies in Azerbaijan. Consequently the autopsies which I performed were the third autopsies each of these bodies was subjected to. One body (case 4, Gouseinov Fikret) was skeletonised, one body (case 10, Nasirov Ilkham) was severely putrefied and the other eight bodies showed moderate to advanced putrefaction. Tissues had been removed from the bodies at the time of the first autopsies in Armenia; these tissues and the reports of the first autopsies were not available to me. Tissues had also been removed from the bodies during the second autopsies in Azerbaijan; those removed tissues that i requested access to were made available to me and the results of the autopsies performed in Azerbaijan were made available to me verbally. All questions related to the conduct of the autopsies in Azerbaijan were answered to me by Dr. Zabit Mamedov and Mr. Igor Kravets. The condition of the bodies arising from the state of putrefaction and decomposition and the conduct of the two previous autopsies with the removal of some tissues, although limiting the information which could be obtained by further autopsy, did not preclude useful and productive examinations.
The essential findings in each case were as follows:

Case 1. Agaev, Roustam (Ramazan ogly)

There was a single gunshot wound to the head which entered the right temple and exited on the left side toward the back of the head. The presence of shot deposits on the surface of the skull surrounding the entry wound indicates that the end of the muzzle of the gun was in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired. At the autopsy performed in Armenia the skin of the right temple which included the gunshot wound of entry was excluded together with the adjacent right ear. Also presumed to have been retained at the first autopsy were several internal organs including part of heart, the spleen, and the liver together with the large bowel. These organs had been removed after death as part of the normal conduct of an autopsy and there is no evidence to substantiate the allegation that organs may have been removed for the purposes of medical transplantation. The evidence clearly that the right ear was excised after death and not during life and that it was excised as a part of autopsy procedure.

Case 2. Djafarov, Anvar (Asker ogly).
There was a large incised wound to the right side of the neck. This wound had been produced by multiple parallel cuts to the skin and repeated parallels in the depth of the wound. The pattern of inquiry was typical of suicide and there were no other injuries to the body to suggest that the depth was other than a suicide. There was post mortem damage of both feet and the left knee consistent with rodent activity. 

Case 3. Guiasov, Bakhram (Akif ogly).
There was a single gunshot to the chest which entered on the left side just below the nipple. The bullet passed through the left lung and exited the back on the left side splintering the ninth rib. There was evidence of emergency medical treatment in the form of a surgical incision to the left side of the chest and what appeared to be an injection mark to the front of the right elbow. There was no evidence of surgical treatment of the wound to the lung suggesting that he died before the emergency surgery could be completed. 

Case 4. Gouseinov, Fikret (Gassan ogly).
The body was skeletonised with virtually no residual soft tissues. There were a minimum of eight healing rib fractures which must have been present many weeks or months prior to death. There was no other bony injures. In the absence of soft tissues it was impossible a cause of death. It is possible that the death was a complication of the rib fractures, such as pneumonia.

Case 5. Ahmedov, Elshan (Goussein ogly).
There was a single gunshot wound to the head which entered at the right temple and exited at the left temple. The skin if the right temple which included the gunshot wound of entry had been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia. On the outer surface of the skull surrounding the gunshot entry wound there were soot deposits indicating that the end of the muzzle of the gun had been in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired. There were two fresh bruises to the body which had occurred during life. There was a 5 cm bruise to the left shin and a 6 cm bruise to the muscles of the front of the left shoulder, without bruising of the overlying skin in the latter injury. 

Case 6. Ahmedov, Elman (mamed ogly).
There was a single gunshot wound to the head which entered at the left temple and exited at the right temple. The skin if the left temple which included the gunshot wound of entry had been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia. The outer surface of the skull of the left temple surrounding the gunshot wound of entry showed abundant soot deposits indicating that the end of the muzzle of the gun had been in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired. The left ear had been excised in continuity with the skin of the left temple, which included the gunshot wound, at the first autopsy in Armenia. The right ear had also been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia.

Case 7. Mamedov, Kourchat (Kiyaz ogly).
There was a single gunshot wound to the head which entered behind the right ear and exited above the left ear. The skin surrounding the gunshot wound of entry had been excised in at the first autopsy in Armenia; there were identifiable soot deposits in the depth of the entry wound. Consequently it is not possible to determine the range at which this shot was fired from.
It is not possible to confirm or to deny that this may have been a contact wound (with the end of the muzzle of the gun in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired). There was an 8 cm bruise to the right side of the forehead which was unrelated to the gunshot wound. This bruise was fresh and had occurred during life. A portion of skin at the centre of this bruise and been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia. There was post mortem loss of some tissue from the toss of the left foot consistent with rodent activity.

Case 8. Mamedov, Eldar (Shahbaba ogly).
There was a single gunshot wound to the head entering at the right temple and exiting at the left temple. The skin of the right temple, including the gunshot wound, of entry, together with the right ear in continuity had been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia. There was no identifiable soot in the depth of the entry wound. Consequently it is not possible to determine the range of fire of the gunshot wound. It is not possible to confirm or to deny that it may have been a contact wound (with the end of the muzzle of the gun in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired). There was post mortem loss of skin on the wall of the abdomen in continuity with the autopsy incision and suggesting rodent activity.

Case 9. Guliev, Faig (Gabil ogly).
There was a single gunshot wound to the right temple entering at the right temple and passing markedly backwards to exit towards the back of the head on the left side. The skin of the right temple including the gunshot wound of entry had been excised at the first autopsy in Armenia; there was no identifiable soot within the depth of the entry wound. Consequently it is not possible to determine the range of fire of the gunshot wound. It is not possible to confirm of deny that the gunshot wound may have been a contact wound (with the end of the muzzle of the gun in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired). There was a fresh 5 cm bruise to the right side of the head unrelated to the gunshot wound. The bruise had been produced during life.

Case 10. Nasirov Ilkhan (Sadulla ogly).
The body was in advanced state of putrefaction. There was no apparent injury to the body. The condition of the body did not permit a cause of death to be established.

None of the bodies showed evidence of torture or systematic beatings (except that this could not be assessed in case 4 because the body reduced to a skeleton). Six of the ten bodies showed a single gunshot wound to the head. In five of the six cases the entry wound was to the right side if the head and the exit wound to the left side if the head; in one of the six cases the entry wound was to the left side of the head and the entry wound to the right side of the head. In three of the six cases there was identifiable soot deposits on the outer surface of the skull surrounding the gunshot wound of entry and indicating that, in each of three cases the muzzle of the gun had been in contact with the head at the tome the shot was fired. In the other three cases, because of loss of physical evidence as a consequence of previous autopsies in Armenia, it is not possible to confirm or deny that the end of the muzzle of the gun was in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired. Of these six cases, three showed fresh bruises to the body, in one case a bruise to the right side of the head; in a second case a bruise to the right side of the forehead; in the third case a bruise to the left shoulder and a further bruise to the left shin. In three cases one or both ears had been excised post mortem and almost certainly at the time of the autopsies in Armenia. In two of these three cases the right ear had been excised and in the third case both ears had been excised.
I am aware that these six dead were alleged to have been shot whilst attempting to escape. The pattern of gunshot wounds is not consistent with such an explanation. The common pattern of gunshot wounds to the head, with three of the six wounds being definite contact wounds, is strongly suggestive of execution-type shootings.