The law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) initiated a number of criminal cases to investigate the circumstances of the aggressive war unleashed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020, the Prosecutor General's office said on Friday, December 9.

The hostilities were accompanied by gross violations of international humanitarian law, with the Artsakh authorities discovering a number of unexploded shells and remnants of shells, and appointed examinations.

"The investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Artsakh also submitted for examination an unexploded missile and samples obtained from it, which were found in the administrative territory of the town of Martuni. With the conclusion issued as a result of a study conducted by an independent expert group (the conclusion was received on 07.12.2022) it was proved that the missile was a phosphorous ammunition, consisting of white phosphorus. The entire process of detection, neutralisation and sampling of the ammunition was carried out with the participation of specialists and recorded on video. If necessary, the subject of the study and the examination materials can be submitted for an investigation by international experts," the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement.

"Hence, according to the results of an expert study, it was found that during the 44-day war of 2020, the Azerbaijani armed forces used chemical weapons, leading to mass destruction and numerous human losses, suffering and damage, directly targeted the settlements where the civilian population was located (during the days of the war and after it, a number of videos were published testifying to the use of chemical weapons). Thus, Azerbaijan has grossly violated Article 35 of the Geneva Convention (Protocol I), according to which:

“1. In any armed conflict, the right of the Parties to the conflict to choose methods or means of warfare is not unlimited.

It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.

It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment."