Estonian MP urges to bring to justice perpetrators of Khojaly massacre

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The perpetrators of the Khojaly massacre must be prosecuted, said Einar Vallbaum, Deputy Chairman of the Estonia-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.

“We strongly condemn the perpetrators and their criminal, inhumane acts committed against Azerbaijani civilians in the night of 25 to 26 February 1992, during the occupation of Khojaly, which are nothing but a crime against humanity,” he said in an interview to Azertac on April 5.

From October 1991, the town of Khojaly was entirely surrounded by the Armenian Armed Forces. After the massive artillery bombardment of Khojaly, Armenians began assault on the town from various directions on the night of February 25-26, 1992. Finally, the Armed Forces of Armenia, with the help of the infantry guards regiment No. 366 of the former Soviet Union, implemented the seizure of Khojaly.

The invaders destroyed Khojaly and with particular brutality implemented carnage over the peaceful population of the town. As a result, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly, while 1,000 people were wounded and 1,275 people were taken hostage. The fate of 150 of them still remains unknown.

Speaking about the relations between Estonia and Azerbaijan, he said the bilateral ties are very good and continue to develop.

“We had very productive meetings with the members of Azerbaijani Parliament, State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, the Council of State Support to NGOs under the President of Azerbaijan, and many more Azerbaijan friends,” Vallbaum said.

He added that the relations between Azerbaijani and Estonian parliamentary friendship groups are very close and friendly, based on interest of the countries and development of bilateral relations.

Vallbaum noted that during the visit to Baku in February, the friendship group met with Azerbaijani MPs.

“We agreed to keep our cooperation at the highest cooperation level, to exchange permanently the visions on all important bilateral issues and we gladly invited the parliamentary friendship group from Azerbaijan to pay a working visit to Estonia in nearest future,” he said.

Touching upon his visit to Baku, Vallbaum said: “It was just wonderful to see how amazing Old Baku and New Baku are completing each other. Your city is full of energy, light, positive mood and of course, amazing people. I will gladly recommend to anyone to visit Baku and of course, to visit Azerbaijan too, where you could travel through time and millenary culture.”