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"According to unofficial data, about 250 Azerbaijani Wahhabis are fighting today in Syria. Also there are a lot of "mujahideens" who have been wounded and have returned home. But the question is, whether these Azerbaijanis will be criminally liable for their return to Azerbaijan?” reads the article of Hayal Shukur, published in Azerbaijani website "Factheber."

The author notes that Azerbaijan is often quoted as a country that is fighting the terrorism, however on this background the Azerbaijani terrorists are fighting in Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The article says that in addition to disseminated information about the deaths of Azerbaijani Wahhabis, fighting among terrorist groups in Syria, also their bodies were sent out.

Hayal Shukur wonders whether the Azerbaijani citizens carry criminal responsibility by the law, for joining the armed terrorist groups in foreign countries. Prominent lawyer, Aslan Ismailov and expert of Scientific and Practical Law Center, a former police chief Mahmoud Hajiyev, expressed interesting views in this regard.

Aslan Ismailov noted, "In Azerbaijan they are held criminally liable only for violations committed inside the country. The criminal may be prosecuted for a crime committed in a foreign country only if the law enforcement agencies of that state appeal to Azerbaijan in connection with this crime. The same applies to the abovementioned Wahhabis. They can be arrested only upon presentation of evidence by the Syrian authorities on this regard."

In his turn Mahmoud Hajiyev, noted that there are a lot of gaps in the Azerbaijani legislation, and the Azerbaijani MPs manipulate the laws.

"Are the laws in the country observed to talk about the responsibility for the crimes [committed] out of the country? You must first correct the errors in the country in order to get to the other countries. Our legislation does not have an act, concerning the Azerbaijanis fighting abroad," he said and noted that the process of Azerbaijani citizens joining the foreign armed groups became widespread in the past few years.

During the last period the media reports about a number of deaths of Azerbaijani terrorists in Syria. In early April, the Turkish sites have reported that about 30 terrorists from Azerbaijan have already been killed in Syria. According to the Azerbaijani conflict scientist Arif Yunus more than 300 Islamists from Azerbaijan are fighting in Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, according to Arif Yunus and the "Facthaber” portal, over 100 Azerbaijani terrorists are fighting in Syria. Azerbaijani terrorists had even placed an online video-record calling for "jihad."

The relationship between international terrorist groups and Azerbaijan originated in the early 1990s. That time, the Azerbaijani army, having failed in the aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), retreated with losses. Trying to save the situation, the Azerbaijani leadership, headed by Heydar Aliyev involved in the war carried out against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh international terrorists and members of radical groups from Afghanistan (groupings of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), Turkey ("Grey Wolves", etc.), Chechnya (groupings Basayev and Raduyev etc.) and some other regions.

Despite the involvement of thousands of foreign mercenaries and terrorists in the Azerbaijani army during the war, the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic failed, and the authorities of Baku were forced to sign an armistice with the NKR and Armenia. However, international terrorists found ties in Azerbaijan, and used them in the future. Recruitment was carried out among the Azerbaijanis, who then were sent to Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where participated in the battles against the forces of the international coalition and Russian institutions.

In recent years, the citizens of Azerbaijan are actively involved in terrorist and extremist activities in Russia, Afghanistan and Syria. In Azerbaijan the citizens are brought to criminal liability for participating in "illegal paramilitary groups" in Afghanistan, sentenced to minor terms of imprisonment.