BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29. 'Protest' by official, public/media institutions of Armenia to detention of war criminal Vagif Khachatryan, who killed 25 Azerbaijani civilians, is nothing but an act of supporting and justifying war crimes at state level, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration, Hikmat Hajiyev wrote on Twitter, Trend reports.
"He tried to use ICRC medical evacuation for human smuggling," Hajiyev wrote.
Vagif Khachatryan, internationally wanted fugitive of Meshali massacre of December 22, 1991, was detained by the military personnel of the State Border Service at the Lachin border crossing point of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border while trying to go to the Republic of Armenia for treatment through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The investigation established that Vagif Cherkezovich Khachatryan, born in 1955, a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, born in Badara village of Askaran district and worked as a driver in Khankendi city automobile transport company, residing in Meshali village, together with other people of Armenian nationality, used various weapons, including firearms and infantry fighting vehicles, to completely destroy the village.
Using various weapons, including firearms and infantry fighting vehicles, they raided the village and killed 25 people of Azerbaijani nationality, injured 14 people, and contrary to national and international law norms expelled 358 Azerbaijanis from their domicile.
In addition, Vagif Cherkezovich Khachatryan continued his criminal actions together with his accomplices, destroying and damaging property belonging to the state and villagers, causing a total of 5 million 496 thousand 900 manats of material damage.
Due to the fact that sufficient reasonable suspicions arose regarding the criminal case, it was decided to involve Vagif Cherkezovich Khachatryan as an accused person under articles 103 (massacre) and 107 (deportation or forced movement of the population) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. However, due to the fact that his whereabouts were unknown to the investigation, on November 12, 2013, an international arrest warrant was applied by the court's decision.