Day: November 7, 2023
The Baku Military Court has sentenced Vagif Khachatryan, an ethnic Armenian from Nagorno-Karabakh, to 15 years in prison for war crimes committed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Khachatryan was accused of taking part in a massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Meshali, near Khojali, charges he denied.
A 1992 report by the Russian human rights group, Memorial, cited ‘severe violence against the civilian population’ in Meshali by ethnic Armenian forces on 22 December 1991. According to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor’s Office, 25 Azerbaijanis were killed, 14 injured, and 358 displaced during the events in Meshali.
Khachatryan, 68, was arrested at Azerbaijan’s Lachin checkpoint between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia in July, before Azerbaijan took control of the region. He was being evacuated through the Azerbaijani blockade of the region by the Red Cross for heart surgery in Yerevan.
He was charged with genocide and deportation or forced transfer of a population and had faced 14 to 20 years or life imprisonment. However, prosecutors requested he be given 15 years.
In his closing statement before judgment was passed, Khachaturyan said that while the massacre at Meshali had taken place, he had not taken part in it.
‘I am a man who believes in God. May God punish those who committed that crime’, Khachaturyan said, adding that while the perpetrators remained at large, it was him ‘standing before the court’
He has maintained throughout the trial that he worked as a driver at the time of the massacre, and was in the nearby village of Badara, where he lived, when it took place.
Armenian authorities have repeatedly criticised Khachaturyan’s prosecution. Following the verdict, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender condemned the trial as not ‘observing the international legal standards and guarantees related to human rights’. They called on international rights groups to ‘respond immediately’.
The post Azerbaijani court sentences Armenian man to 15 years for war crimes appeared first on OC Media.
According to the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Survey published by OC Media on November 7, only 33% of Georgians believe the country will be granted the EU candidacy status, while 45% of the population are skeptical, and the rest are unsure. The survey, which was conducted on October 4-8, also found a strong partisan divide: “Despite having less favorable perceptions of the EU, supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party are significantly more likely to think Georgia will be granted candidate status than opposition supporters and people that do not support any party.”
While opposition supporters demonstrate robust backing for EU integration, with 83% fully in favor and an additional 9% partially supportive, their optimism regarding Georgia’s chances of obtaining EU candidacy is tempered, with only 24% believing the country will achieve it. On the other hand, ruling Georgian Dream supporters hold higher expectations, with 47% expressing optimism. Nevertheless, the rate of EU integration support among this group is somewhat lower than that of the opposition, with 54% in full support and 31% partially supportive.
As per the survey findings, a majority of the Georgian-speaking population, amounting to 62 percent, express fully or mostly favorable views regarding Georgia’s membership in the EU. Additionally, 24 percent of this group offer partial support for EU membership, while 10 percent do not support it at all. The remaining three percent were either unsure or opted not to respond to the survey.
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