By Naira Bulghadarian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenian law-enforcement authorities confirmed on April 10 that they have withdrawn an international arrest warrant for an Azerbaijani man accused by them of beheading a Nagorno-Karabakh civilian during the 2020 war.
The man, Kamil Zeynalli, was detained by Russian police at Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport in February 2024 due to that warrant. He was freed and flown back to Baku several hours later after an intervention from the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia.
Armenian Interior Ministry said at the time that Zeynalli is wanted for the beheading of an elderly resident of Karabakh’s southern Hadrut district captured by Azerbaijani forces during the six-week war.
Zeynalli, who is known as a fitness coach, boasted earlier this week that the international search for him launched by “our enemies” has been rescinded “thanks to the efforts of our state.”
The Interior Ministry and the Office of the Prosecutor-General in Yerevan essentially confirmed that in identical statements issued late on Wednesday. They said Armenia and Azerbaijan last year reaffirmed a 2007 “understanding” to cease or not launch international searches for citizens of each other’s countries valid in other ex-Soviet states, including Russia.
