BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 31. The arrest of Vagif Khachatryan, one of the internationally wanted persons in connection with the massacre in the village of Meshali, complies with all legal norms, a veteran of the security agencies of Azerbaijan, Colonel Azer Garayev, said, Trend reports.
According to him, the investigation of the events of the massacre committed in the village of Meshali has revealed that Khachatryan was among the armed Armenians who attacked the village of Meshali in 1991, killing 25 and wounding 14 Azerbaijanis, as a result of which 358 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their places of residence.
"For the crimes committed, Vagif Khachatryan was put on the international wanted list. He was detained by the servicemen of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan at the Lachin border checkpoint while trying to leave for Armenia under the guise of treatment through the International Committee of the Red Cross. Since Khachatryan is a citizen of Azerbaijan and there are serious grounds for suspicion of committing bloody crimes, his detention was carried out in accordance with Azerbaijani law," he said.
Garayev added that Azerbaijan is a state of law, and representatives of all peoples living in the country are equal before the law.
"Khachatryan Vagif Cherkezovich must answer before the law for the grave crimes he committed. During the 44-day Patriotic War, we took revenge on the enemy on the battlefield. The struggle continues to this day in the diplomatic arena, in the political arena, and in the information space," he said.
Garayev stressed that not only Khachatryan but also other war criminals, including the executioners involved in the Khojaly genocide, must answer before the law of Azerbaijan.
"The arrest and involvement in the investigation of the war criminal Khachatryan, who was on the international wanted list, gives grounds to say that other war criminals will also appear before Azerbaijani justice," he said.
It should be noted that the investigation of the criminal case initiated by the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code on the facts of genocide, deportation of Azerbaijanis, and destruction by illegal Armenian armed groups on December 22, 1991, in the village of Meshali, Khojaly region, of numerous properties belonging to villagers and the state, continues.
The investigation established that on the indicated day, a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Vagif Cherkezovich Khachatryan (born in 1955), who was born and lived in the village of Badara, Askeran region, worked as a driver at the automobile transport enterprise of the city of Khankendi, and other persons of Armenian nationality with the aim of killing Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds, living in the village of Meshali, using various types of weapons, including firearms and infantry fighting vehicles, had made an armed attack on this village, killed 25 Azerbaijanis, wounded 14, and expelled 358 Azerbaijanis from their places of legal residence. In addition, Vagif Cherkezovich Khachatryan and other persons, in a preliminary conspiracy, destroyed and damaged property belonging to the state and villagers, causing material damage in the total amount of 5,496,900 manats. In connection with the emergence of sufficient grounds for bringing charges, a decision was made to bring Vagif Khachatryan as a defendant under Articles 103 (genocide) and 107 (deportation or forced resettlement of the population) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Due to the fact that his whereabouts were not known to the investigation, he was put on the international wanted list, and on November 12, 2013, by a court decision, a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen against him. As a result of the search activities carried out, Vagif Khachatryan was detained by the servicemen of the State Border Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the Lachin border checkpoint on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on July 29, 2023, while trying to leave for the Republic of Armenia for medical treatment through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.