Azerbaijanis tortured in Khojaly demand legal punishment for culprits Pundit goes over Khachaturyan’s case

Azerbaijan’s Russian Community Deputy Chairman, Journalist and Pubndit Anastasia Lavrina has said that no country would argue that every state is obliged to protect civilians from atrocities and punish criminals.

"After the Second World War, tens of thousands of war criminals were brought before international and military tribunals, as well as state courts. The Nuremberg trials became a historic event, first of all, as the triumph of the law in the face of Nazi lawlessness. The prosecution of participants in Nazi crimes continues in the XXI century. Currently, international and State tribunals adhere to the principle that all participants in war crimes must be punished," Caliber.Az quotes Lavrina as saying.

"Accordingly, the prosecution of Vagif Khachaturyan, who was detained in connection with the events of 1991 in the Khojaly district's Meshali village, is in line with the norms of international and national law.

There is direct evidence and eyewitness testimony confirming the fact that Khachaturyan was involved in the events during which 25 persons of Azerbaijani nationality were killed, 14 persons were injured to varying degrees and 358 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their places of lawful residence.

Khachaturyan, together with his accomplices, brutally violated several paragraphs of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War. Azerbaijanis were tortured, brutally expelled or even killed. It is the Geneva Convention that is so often referred to in its work by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which for some reason in this particular case decided to facilitate Khachaturyan's escape from Khankandi to Iravan.

The world should take into account the important fact that Azerbaijanis who have endured terrible tortures, those who have been forced to live away from their native land for decades, now do not want the death of criminals, but a fair trial and the imposition of legal punishment. This already shows the high level of humanism of the Azerbaijani people. This is what will help turn the page of the war and will contribute to the establishment of a long-awaited peace in the South Caucasus," the pundit said.