Artsakh Ombudsman’s Second Interim Report on Azerbaijani Atrocities published today
The Ombudsman’s Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has published its second interim report on Azerbaijani atrocities during the 2016 April War. In the early morning hours of April 2, Azerbaijani armed forces launched a thoroughly planned large-scale offensive along the entire line of contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, deploying tanks, attack helicopters, heavy artillery, and rocket launchers. The Azerbaijani surprise and unprovoked offensive was the largest and bloodiest breach of the cease-fire regime installed in 1994 through a trilateral agreement between NKR, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The report addresses a wide range of human rights issues stemming from the Azerbaijani aggression, including beheadings, torture, and mutilation of dead bodies of combatants and civilians, as well as indiscriminate shelling of civilian objects, etc. The report was prepared based on open-source information. Artsakh Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan publicly pledged in a speech before the NKR National Assembly to launch a fact-finding mission, aiming to publish a final report on the April 2-5 events. The on-going fact-finding mission includes numerous on-sight visits, dozens of witness interviews, consultations with military, medical and technical experts, as well as information requests to the respective authorities, and media monitoring. Within the present report, three war crimes are considered, which were committed by Azerbaijani AF against NKR combatants and civilians during April 2-5 aggression against NKR. Those war crimes are: a/ Torture b/ Execution (violence to life) c/ Mutilation of dead bodies As a result of the Azerbaijani military aggression during 2-5 April 2016, the NKR side had 80 casualties (76 combatants and 4 civilians). Meanwhile, 31 of them (28 NKDA servicemen and 3 NKR civilians) fell under the control of Azerbaijan, which lasted from about one hour to more than two weeks. The most widespread war crime was mutilation (24 cases), including 21 cases of ear cuts-offs. There were 5 cases of torture (including hands cut off, and throats cut). There were 7 cases of execution, mostly by gun-shots. 27 out of the 31 NKR civilians and NKDA servicemen (about 90%), who fell under control of the Azerbaijani armed forces as a result of the Azerbaijani military aggression against NKR, were tortured, executed, or mutilated. The report was presented to the public during a press conference held in Talish village in Artsakh. The report is available here
