What sentence can await Vagif Khachaturyan, murderer of Azerbaijanis?

Vagif Cherkezovich Khachaturyan (born in 1955), a native of Badara village of Asgaran district, who subjected Azerbaijani captives to insane torture and killed residents of Meshali village of Khojaly district, has recently been detained at the Lachin checkpoint.

Society wonders what sentence may await Vagif Khachaturyan, the murderer of Azerbaijanis.

Khachaturyan was charged under Articles 103 ("Genocide") and 107 ("Deportation or forced resettlement of population") of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan and arrested by the court decision, Caliber.Az reports, citing the press service of Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

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.