August 29 is the birthday of Sirac Abishov, a journalist who died as a martyr in a landmine explosion.
Sea-news.az reports he was born in the city of Gubadli in 1989. During the First Karabakh War, Sirac and his family were displaced from their home and moved to Sumgayit.
Sirac started working as a cameraman for Azerbaijan State Television (AzTV) in 2019. On June 4, 2021, he was killed in an explosion near the village of Susuzlug in the Kalbajar district. On June 5, he was buried at the Alley of Martyrs in Sumgayit.
By a decree of President Ilham Aliyev on June 14, 2021, he was awarded the 3rd Degree “For Service to the Motherland” Order. He was also awarded a medal for his services in military-patriotic education.
Along with Sirac, AZƏRTAC reporter Maharram Ibrahimov and local official Arif Aliyev were also killed in the incident, while four other people were injured. A criminal case was opened regarding the incident. Reporters Without Borders included Maharram Ibrahimov and Sirac Abishov in their list of journalists killed while doing their job in 2021, and their names are engraved on a memorial plaque at AzTV.
