Azerbaijan holds trial of Meshali genocide perpetrator UPDATED

The court hearing on the criminal case of Vagif Cherkezovich Khachaturyan, one of the participants of the genocide committed on December 22, 1991, in Meshali village of Khojaly district by members of illegal Armenian armed groups was held on October 13.

According to Report, at the trial held in the administrative building of Yasamal District Court under the chairmanship of Judge Zeynal Agayev of Baku Military Court, the details of the accused were clarified.

It was noted that the rights of Khachaturyan will be defended by Natig Beibalayev.

State prosecutors at the trial are Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General, State Counsellor of Justice of the 3rd rank Mugeddes Sultanov and Counsellor of Justice Jovdat Mehraliyev.

Murad Huseynov, a representative of Khojaly district executive power, and Huseyn Gumbatov, a resident of Meshali village, were present at the trial as victims.

The next court hearing is scheduled for October 17.

It should be noted that Armenian citizen Vagif Cherkezovich Khachaturyan, on the international wanted list concerning the genocide in Meshali, was detained in July this year at the Lachin border checkpoint.

The criminal group which he led killed 25 Azerbaijanis in the village of Meshali in the Khojaly district in December 1991, wounded 14 people and evicted 358 Azerbaijanis from their legal place of residence.

A criminal case was opened against him under articles 103 (genocide) and 107 (deportation or forced resettlement of the population), and a preventive measure in the form of remand in custody was chosen.

Article 103 ("Genocide - actions aimed at the complete or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing members of this group, causing serious harm to their health or serious harm to their mental abilities, creating living conditions designed for the complete or partial physical destruction of members of this group, carrying out activities aimed at prevention of births within a group, forced transfer of children belonging to one group to another") - provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 14 to 20 years or life imprisonment.

Article 107 ("Deportation or forced relocation of the population, the expulsion of the population from legal places of settlement to another State or expulsion by other coercive actions, without grounds established by the norms of international law and the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan") provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years.

Both articles belong to the category of grave and especially grave crimes. Thus, according to the totality of the articles, Vagif Khachaturyan can expect a sentence of 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.