Karabakh vows to bring culprits behind Azerbaijani violence to account

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan’s military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh in the early hours of April 2 was accompanied by war crimes, flagrant violations of the laws of war, as well as norms of international humanitarian law, a spokesperson for the Karabakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday, April 12.

“As a result of deliberate artillery shelling of civilian settlements, a 12-year-old boy, Vagharshak Grigoryan was killed on April 2, and two other kids were wounded near the secondary school in Karabakh’s Martuni region,” Ani Sargsyan said.

“In the village of Talish in Karabakh’s Martakert region, three elderly civilians were brutally killed and mutilated by an Azerbaijani subversive group. Traces of torture and mutilation were also registered on the bodies of the deceased servicemen of the Karabakh Defense Army, transferred by Azerbaijan on April 10.”

According to the spokeswoman, this is not the complete list of war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army during the latest military aggression. By violating the norms of international humanitarian law, Azerbaijan, according to Sargsyan, openly challenged the entire civilized world.

“In accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular, Article 1 of all Geneva Conventions, the High Contracting Parties undertook the obligation not only “to respect” the norms of the Conventions, but also “to ensure respect” in all circumstances,” she said.

“Nagorno Karabakh is taking steps to inform the international community, including the relevant agencies, about the inhuman acts committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces and will seek to ensure that Azerbaijan’s behavior is condemned in strongest terms, with those responsible brought to account.”

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral cessation of fire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 64 Armenian solders were killed, 122 more were wounded.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multipl e rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drone, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 95 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 39 more have been wounded. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.

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