Armenia: rights defenders demand inquiry into war crimes in Karabakh conflict (+video)

In the course of the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan violated its commitments to the Council of Europe, said Arman Tatoyan, the Armenian Ombudsman. The rights defender Artak Kirakosyan has urged to involve all the mechanisms of the international law to punish those guilty of war crimes, offering Azerbaijan to appeal to the international court, if it has any facts about violation of UN conventions.

According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), as of April 7, the losses of the NKR's Defence Army amounted to 36 killed and 121 wounded. Azerbaijan has announced 31 killed and 9 wounded soldiers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 3 photos appeared in mass media taken in the village of Talysh, which show the bodies of three elderly people with traces of mutilations. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of distributing provocative messages about the killings. The Military Prosecutor's Office of the NKR opened a criminal case on the facts of crimes committed by Azerbaijani militaries.

According to the Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces deliberately shelled kindergartens and schools. He also said about killed civilians.

Larisa Alaverdyan, the first Ombudsperson of Armenia, now the head of the public organization "Against Legal Arbitrariness", believes that the outcome of Armenia's appeal to the court depends on the geopolitical situation, as well as the interests of the major global powers.

It should be noted here that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has begun negotiations with the parties in the Karabakh conflict on the issue of exchange of the bodies of dead servicemen and civilians, as well as of the prisoners of war.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.