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    Emil Lazarian
  • 1 year ago
    • Categories: 2023

Kidnapped Nagorno-Karabakh man faces fabricated charges in Azerbaijan

 15:40, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Vagif Khachatryan, the 68-year-old Nagorno-Karabakh man who was kidnapped by Azerbaijani authorities during his ICRC-facilitated medical evacuation to Armenia through the blockaded Lachin Corridor, has been questioned as part of fabricated criminal proceedings in Azerbaijan.

Khachatryan was taken to a hospital after his arrest, the Azerbaijani APA news agency reported.

"He was examined by doctors regarding his health. After the medical examination, he was provided with a lawyer and a translator. Charges against Vagif Khachatryan were announced and preliminary interrogation was held. Currently, other investigative measures are being taken in connection with him," Ilgar Safarov, Senior Assistant to the prosecutor general on special assignments, told APA in an interview. 

Khachatryan faces fabricated war crime charges in Azerbaijan.

On August 2, prominent Armenian attorney Siranush Sahakyan ruled out due process in Azerbaijan regarding Vagif Khachatryan. She said that the kidnapping of Vagif Khachatryan by Azerbaijan constitutes extraordinary rendition in terms of international law.

The Nagorno-Karabakh resident’s kidnapping has been condemned by the Armenian foreign ministry as a war crime.

Vagif Khachatryan’s daughter revealed earlier this week that the Azeri border guards threatened the ICRC staff with force at the illegal checkpoint in Lachin Corridor. She denied the charges against her father and asked for international support to achieve his release.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS