Former deputy defense minister, national hero of Armenia Manvel Grigoryan participated in numerous war crimes such as the Khojaly genocide, looting of property of Azerbaijani residents during the occupation of Fizuli and Jabrayil districts of Azerbaijan, torture and mass killing of prisoners of war, as well as taking hostage of civilians, their torturing and murder, spokesman of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev said, commenting on the arrest of Grigoryan.
In his interview in 2014 with the Armenian bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Grigoryan openly and 'proudly" said that he was returning from the Karabakh war with hundreds of Azerbaijani hostages and forced them to work in his home," the diplomat noted.
Hikmat Hajiyev also stressed that Grigoryan, accused of violating the Geneva Conventions by such actions, contemptuously stated that he doesn’t recognize the Geneva Conventions and is proud to be an Armenian.
"Unfortunately, the criminal case initiated against Manvel Grigoryan is limited only to economic crimes committed in Armenia. The crimes committed by him during the war, in particular actions against hundreds of Azerbaijanis that he held captive, as he himself admitted, must be investigated," Trend cited the spokesman of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry as saying.
Hikmat Hajiyev expressed hope that international organizations for human rights protection, including the Council of Europe, will be active in this issue.
