Tamil Zeynalli is wanted by Armenia
Russia authorities briefly detained an Azerbaijani national who is wanted by Armenia on war crimes charges and later released him at the request of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow.
Armenia’s security authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Tamil Zeynalli, who was detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport as he was boarding a flight to Baku.
Armenia’s Interior Ministry spokesperson, Narek Sargsyan, confirmed to media that Zeynalli is wanted by Armenia on murder charges, but refrained to give more information, telling Armenpress that he was not aware of the suspect’s detention in Moscow.
Zeynalli’s attorney, Alekber Garayev, told Azerbaijani media that his client is wanted in Armenia on charges of aggression, war crimes and being a mercenary.
Zeynalli, who is apparently a former member of the Azerbaijani military and has received medals of honor from his government, claims to be a blogger and a fitness trainer.
While he is scheduled to appear in a Moscow court on Thursday, his attorney told Azerbaijani media that Zeynalli was on his way back to Baku and thanked Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Moscow for its efforts to secure his client’s release.
The charges are believed to stem from the execution of two men from Artsakh captured by Azerbaijani troops in October 2020. A video posted by Azerbaijani social media users at the time showed Azerbaijani-speaking soldiers shooting and killing them, Azatutyun.am reported on Wednesday.
The victims wore Artsakh Army uniforms and were bound and draped in Armenian flags during the execution. Armenian prosecutors identified them as residents of Karabakh’s southern Hadrut district occupied by the Azerbaijani army during the six-week war.
In a detailed 2020 analysis published by the investigative website Bellingcat, a retired British army officer and open source expert suggested that “these two men were indeed Armenian combatants who were captured between October 9 and October 15 by Azerbaijani soldiers, possibly special forces, and likely executed a short time later.” Bellingcat denied Baku’s claims that the video is fake.
Azerbaijani forces were also accused of committing other war crimes. In December 2020, Britain’s The Guardian examined gruesome videos that show men in Azerbaijani army uniforms beheading two elderly civilians recognized by their Karabakh Armenian relatives and neighbors.
“The ethnic Armenian men were non-combatants, people in their respective villages said,” wrote the paper.