Preparatory meeting on Vagif Khachatryan' case

Baku/13.10.23/Turan:  On October 13, a preparatory meeting was held in Baku in the case of Karabakh Armenian Vagif Khachatryan, accused of the massacre of residents of the village of Meshali, Khojaly region on December 22, 1991.

The case is being considered by the Baku Military Court, Yasamal district court building, chaired by Zeynal Agayev.

During the meeting, the personal details of the accused were clarified, and he was provided with a lawyer and an interpreter. Khachatryan’s rights will be defended by lawyer Natig Beybalayev.

The state prosecution is supported by the Assistant Prosecutor General, justice general Mugaddas Sultanov and the prosecutor of the prosecution department Jovdet Mehraliev.

The representative of the Khojaly region executive power, Murad Huseynov, is participating as a victim. In addition, Huseyn Gummatov, the son of Kerim Gummatov, who was killed during the events in Meshali, is participating as the legal successor of the injured person.

The state prosecutor asked the court to transfer the case for consideration and not to change the preventive measure against the accused. A hearing on the merits is scheduled for October 17.

*Vagif Khachatryan was detained on July 29 at the Lachin border checkpoint while trying to leave for Armenia.

He was put on the wanted list in a criminal case initiated in Azerbaijan due to the events of December 22, 1991, when a group of armed Armenians attacked the village of Meshali in the Khojaly region.

Khachatryan and his accomplices killed 25 Azerbaijanis, wounded 14 people, and expelled 358 Azerbaijanis from their places of legal residence.

Khachatryan was charged under Articles 103 (genocide) and 107 (deportation or forced relocation of the population) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. -16B-