One of the perpetrators of Khojaly genocide was detained in Lachin

According to the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan on the facts of genocide, deportation of Azerbaijanis, destruction and damage to numerous property belonging to the villagers and state-owned property by the members of the illegal Armenian armed forces on December 22, 1991, in the village of Meshali, Khojaly district, the investigation of the criminal case initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan continues.

According to the investigation, it was established that on the mentioned date, Khachaturyan Vagif Cherkezovich (1955), a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, who was born and resided in Badara village of Askeran district, worked as a driver in Khankendi city automobile transport enterprise, in order to destroy Azerbaijanis as a national group as a whole, using various weapons, including firearms and infantry fighting vehicles, together with other people of Armenian nationality carried out an armed raid on that village, where they killed 25 people of Azerbaijani nationality, injured 14 people, and 358 Azerbaijanis were evicted from their places of legal residence without any grounds established by the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan and by international law.

In addition, Vagif Cherkazovich Khachaturian continued his criminal actions together with his accomplices, destroying and damaging property belonging to the state and villagers, causing material damage in the amount of 5 million 496 thousand 900 manats.

Due to the fact that sufficient reasonable suspicions arose regarding the criminal case, it was decided to involve Vagif Cherkezovich Khachaturyan as an accused person under articles 103 (genocide) and 107 (deportation or forced transfer of the population) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, but due to the fact that his whereabouts are unknown to the investigation on November 12, 2013, an international search was announced and a preventive detention measure was chosen by the court’s decision.

As a result of the conducted search measures, on July 29, 2023, Vagif Khachaturyan 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 Armenia under the guise of receiving treatment through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

It will be ensured that Vagif Khachaturyan will be placed in a medical institution in Baku, provided with the necessary medical assistance, and also will be provided with conditions for ICRC representatives to visit him.

At present, the necessary operative and investigative measures are being continued in the criminal case to bring the other accused persons to justice.

 

This article was originally published on Qafqazinfo.az on July 29, 2023.