BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. The preliminary investigation into the criminal case against a member of Armenian armed formations, Vagif Khachatryan, has been completed and sent for consideration to the Baku Military Court, the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev, said, Trend reports.
According to Aliyev, a criminal group of armed military formations that involved Khachatryan and were not provided for by the legislation of Azerbaijan, which consisted of Armenian nationalists who resided in Azerbaijan's Karabakh economic region and persons who came from Armenia, committed massacres, persecutions, evictions, and violations of international humanitarian law norms against Azerbaijani residents of Meshali village (Khojaly district).
The prosecutor's general noted that as a result of the above crimes, 27 people were intentionally killed, 21 people suffered bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity, two residents of the village were taken hostage, and 340 people (81 households) were internally displaced from their permanent places of residence. The village residents suffered material damage in the total amount of over 13.5 million manats ($7.9 million), and the state suffered 130,800 manats ($76,940).
"On November 12, 2013, a decision was made to involve Khachatryan as an accused person under Articles 103 and 107 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On November 14, 2013, by the decision of the Narimanov District Court of Baku, he was remanded in custody, and on November 21 of the same year, he was released from custody," Aliyev said. "He was declared wanted in the same year, and the relevant documents were sent to the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Azerbaijan."
"On July 29, 2023, Khachatryan was detained at the Lachin checkpoint when trying to enter the territory of Armenia due to his health condition and was presented to the investigation. On the same day, he was charged under Articles 103 and 107 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, and pre-trial detention for a period of three months was ordered," the prosecutor's general pointed out.
"On September 22 of this year, the accused Khachatryan was again charged with the relevant articles of the Criminal Code, and on September 29, the preliminary investigation into the criminal case was completed and sent to the Baku Military Court for consideration," the official added.
Aliyev also emphasized that Khachatryan will be duly sentenced in accordance with criminal legislation.
Khachatryan, as a member of Armenian armed formations, organized the massacre of Azerbaijanis in Meshali village on December 22, 1991.
During the massacre, 25 persons of Azerbaijani nationality were killed, 14 suffered bodily injuries of various degrees, and 358 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their places of legal residence without grounds provided for by international legal norms and laws of Azerbaijan.
In connection with the emergence of sufficient grounded suspicions, a decision was made to bring Khachatryan as an accused under Articles 103 (genocide) and 107 (deportation or forced resettlement of population) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
By a court decision, he was remanded in custody, and namely, within this criminal case, he was detained by the servicemen of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan at the Lachin border checkpoint of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border on July 29 this year while trying to enter the territory of Armenia for medical treatment through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.