More than 100 applications from Karabakh refugees sent to the ECHR

Human rights activists have filed over 100 applications to the European Court of Human Rights to protect the property of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in October 2024, the former chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Tourism and Culture Development Agency Sergey Shahverdyan reported that the Azerbaijani authorities destroyed the historical neighborhoods of Stepanakert along Tumanyan Street. Refugees from Karabakh called the purpose of demolishing houses to deprive people of the opportunity to return to them. In November, new facts of the destruction of buildings in the city became known.

The preparation and submission of complaints to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was carried out on the initiative of the NGO "Union "Artsakh"" and the office of the Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh. The official website of the "Artsakh Union" has an electronic questionnaire to fill out, as well as a contact phone number.

The "Artsakh Union", the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh) and their partners collect data on human rights violations by the Azerbaijani authorities, including data on lost housing and other property, the data is collected for possible international litigation. Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are invited to fill out a questionnaire to initiate proceedings in international bodies, you can fill out the questionnaire below. The organization guarantees that the data "may be used exclusively for international legal purposes" with the written consent of the applicant.

Based on the collected information, more than 100 applications have already been sent to the European Court of Human Rights, and data collection continues, said Artak Beglaryan, Chairman of the Artsakh Union organization and former Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The main demand of the forcibly displaced is for the ECHR to make appropriate decisions in favor of the people of Artsakh, in this case, decisions to protect the property belonging to specific individuals. This is a demand for compensation for destroyed property or formulated demands in the general context of the return of property,” the human rights activist told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

He recalled that “the Azerbaijani side is massively demolishing entire neighborhoods of Stepanakert, wiping out populated areas from the face of the earth, or illegally settling its citizens in the property of the people of Artsakh.” "The Strasbourg court is obliged to record all these violations and oblige Azerbaijan to stop all these criminal actions in occupied Artsakh," Beglaryan said.

All information about the destruction and destruction of settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh is collected from satellite images, video recordings on social networks and publications in Azerbaijani media, the Artsakh Tourism and Culture Development Agency points out.

"On July 6, a video from Stepanakert appeared in the Azerbaijani segment of social networks, which shows that one block of Stepanakert was razed to the ground. This is on Artur Mkrtchyan Street: six multi-story residential buildings, at least 25 public buildings with a total area of 1.3 hectares. It is known about large-scale demolitions of residential buildings in Stepanakert in six historical quarters - 6.5 hectares, and in the quarters adjacent to the territory of the Artsakh State University and Freedom Square - 5.7 hectares. In various quarters of Stepanakert, residential buildings and public buildings are also being selectively demolished. To date, the confirmed area of \u200b\u200bmassively demolished buildings is at least 14 hectares," said the head of the "Agency for the Development of Tourism and Culture of Artsakh" Sergey Shahverdyan.

Analysis of satellite images shows that Azerbaijan is destroying not only Armenian historical and cultural monuments in the occupied territory, but also entire settlements "with houses, streets, historical layers practically," noted the Ombudsman for the Cultural Heritage of the Armenian Highlands Ovik Avanesov. In particular, the 2025 photographs show the complete destruction of the village of Sargsashen; earlier, the disappearance of the village of Karin Tak in the Shusha region, the communities of Mokhrenes, Mariamazor, Tsamdzor, Tagut-Tagot, Arakel in the Hadrut region was revealed. "Azerbaijan is deliberately pursuing a policy of eliminating everything Armenian in Artsakh," Avanesov said.

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