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By Trend

Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Rahman Mustafayev gave an interview to Trend regarding the crimes and terror acts of French citizens of Armenian and non-Armenian origin in the second Karabakh War.

- Mr. Ambassador, recently the Azerbaijani media reported that the French prosecutor's office began a preliminary investigation on the facts of participation of French citizens in committing war crimes during the second Karabakh war, which was presented by the Azerbaijani Embassy in France. What is this about?

During September - October, we collected all the information that appeared in the French media and social networks about the participation of French citizens in the Karabakh war on the side of Armenia. In early November, we analyzed all this information together with our lawyers and prepared appropriate appeals to the national prosecutor for combating terrorism and the prosecutor of the country. In these letters, we provided information about the legal and political aspects of the conflict, cited the facts of participation of French citizens in hostilities on the side of Armenia, and called on them to use the law and all legal mechanisms to punish offenders and prevent the illegal participation of French citizens in the war unleashed against Azerbaijan. Recently, we received information from our lawyers that, by our request, on the basis of the relevant articles of the Criminal Procedure Code, the French prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation on suspicion of "complicity in the commission of a criminal act". This is an essential step forward.

- What laws have French citizens violated by taking part in hostilities?

- First of all, I would like to note that this court will decide whether the law is violated or not, while the preliminary investigation is underway. But we referred to the fact that, in our opinion, the articles of the French Criminal Code were violated, which stipulate that French citizens of Armenian and non-Armenian origin, specially recruited to "participate in the commission of coordinated acts of violence aimed at overthrowing the existing institutions of power and undermining the territorial integrity of states", must be prosecuted. This is 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euro.

- In other words, is there a possibility that the French mercenaries will be punished?

- Of course, there is. In any case, the investigation has begun. Moreover, the Armenians of France have already felt that their participation in the hostilities against Azerbaijan will have consequences. After the preliminary investigation was opened by our request, many Armenians who returned from Yerevan to Paris underwent special interviews at the airport police station upon arrival, the purpose of which was to find out the motives of their trip to Armenia during the period of active hostilities. According to our information, more than 200 people have passed through these interviews. This doesn’t mean that they all took part in the hostilities, but the fact remains that all fell under suspicion.

- What does this mean?

- This means that many French Armenians who returned from Armenia in November-December ended up - regardless of whether they were in the war zone or not - in the so-called register S (an abbreviation of the first letter in the word security, "Sûreté de l'Etat "or state security), in which persons who pose a potential or real threat to the national security of this country are placed. For comparison, I note that in the same list (the scale varies from 1 to 16 depending on the degree of threat posed by the suspect) there are already those French citizens who have committed real crimes, including terrorist acts, on the territory of France itself or outside it. The neighborhood of the so-called "Armenian heroes" is not the most pleasant, but quite "deserved".

- Does the preliminary investigation has a deal with French Armenians or all citizens of this country?

- The investigation will concern all French citizens, especially, the leader of the ultra-right neo-fascist organization "Zouaves of Paris", who made no secret of the fact that he was going "to fight in Karabakh against Muslims". This organization was created at the end of 2017 and "became famous" for its aggressive racist statements and antics, attacks on journalists, anti-fascists and immigrants from African countries, organizing riots during demonstrations, in particular, demonstrations of "yellow vests" at the end of 2018. In June of this year, the issue of illegal extremist actions of this organization was even raised in the Senate before the Minister of Internal Affairs, who was demanded to "put an end to the activities of this dangerous organization." By the way, this connection between Armenian separatists and French neo-fascists is very symbolic.

- Do these actions of the prosecutor's office have a deal with a change in the position of France regarding the causes of the war, in relation to our country?

- I don’t think that it’s about changing the position of France. The reason, in my opinion, is the real concern of the French authorities, security, and internal affairs bodies on the possible dangerous consequences of the transfer of the conflict to French territory. After all, it is possible that some of the citizens of this country returned from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan with weapons through other European countries by road.

Therefore, the authorities fear that the French Armenians who took part in the hostilities will cause new problems in France itself, that provocative actions against the public, a source of tension in relations with the large, almost 700,000 Turkish community, as well as with the Azerbaijani community. Moreover, during this year, especially in July-November, such provocations by radical circles of the Armenian diaspora often took place both against members of the Turkish community and against our diplomatic mission, our diplomats, and our compatriots living and working in France. It should also be taken into account, and we have also informed the French law enforcement agencies about this, that many friends of Azerbaijan from among the French MPs, senators, and journalists still receive threats from the Franco-Armenian radicals, including physical violence, to their addresses on social networks. This is not surprising, because the ASALA terrorist organization operates in France almost openly, its representatives are received by officials, for example, the mayor of Paris. In a word, we will wait for information from the prosecutor's office during the preliminary investigation and respond to the situation. In principle, our strategy is based on a simple principle - to respond to all, without exception, numerous provocations and unfriendly actions against our country.

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