On 2 April 2016 Azerbaijani authorities breached the Ceasefire Agreement of 1994 and the most serious military actions in the line of contact between Azerbaijan and Nagorno- Karabakh for the last 20 years commenced. The military action violates not only obligations taken by Azerbaijan on principle of good faith negotiations in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and but also constitutes violation of a set of principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter, 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States, 1975 Helsinki Final Act and other international documents. In course of the military activities lasted several days, numerous acts amounting to war crimes have been committed against Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army and civilian population.

The most heinous examples include indiscriminate attacks against civilians, shelling of bordering villages and towns, acts of torture towards combatants not taking part in hostilities and towards civilians, including beheadings, body parts amputations and other acts of hostility, brutality and humiliation. Particularly, on 02 April 2016 a 12-year-old child was killed and the two more children in Martuni town after a deadly MM-21 Grad multiple rockets were launched by Azerbaijani forces against civilians. Further, on the same day, after temporal overturn of Talish village by Azerbaijani armed forces, elderly couple Valera and Razmela Khalapyans were shot in their home and were tortured with their ears being cut off.

Azerbaijani soldiers also executed Valera Khalapyan’s 92-year-old mother Marousya Khalapyan. All the killed persons were aged and reasonably infirm. Moreover, a soldier of Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army was beheaded by Azerbaijani troops and photos were taken with the head in the hands of the Azerbaijani soldiers as a trophy. Clearly, such acts amount to flagrant violations of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes under international criminal law and must be condemned without delay by the international community at large.

These include grave breaches of 1949 Geneva Conventions ratified by Azerbaijan and other serious violations of laws and customs of war such as willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment of civilian population and prisoners of war (Article 130 of III GC and Article 147 of IV GC), as well as prohibition of indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population or civilian objects (Article 51 of AP I).

We, human rights defenders of the Republic of Armenia, call upon the international community, particularly the United Nations Organization, the Council of Europe and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe 1) to explicitly condemn the atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces, 2) to urge the Government of Azerbaijan to ensure proper investigation of crimes committed against Nagorno-Karabakh civilians and prisoners of war, 3) to take appropriate measures to prevent further acts of war crimes against the peaceful civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and 4) to take appropriate measures to insure human treatment of prisoners of war and missing persons.

“Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor” NGO

“Helsinki Committee of Armenia” NGO

“Foundation against the Violation of Law” NGO

“Journalists’ Club “Asbarez” NGO

“Journalists for Human Rights” NGO

“Peace Dialogue” NGO

“Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO

“Public Information and Need for Knowledge” NGO

“Real World Real People” NGO

“Rule of Law” NGO

“Veles Human Rights” NGO

“Women’s Resource Center” NGO, Armenia

“Gambir” NGO

Araks Melkonyan, LL.M. in International Human Rights Law, University of Essex

Anahit Simonyan, M.A. in Theory and Practice of Human Rights, University of Essex

Hasmik Harutyunyan, M.A. in Human Rights and Democratization, Center for European Studies

Ani Aghagyulyan, Ph.D. Candidate, Yerevan State University

Anna Maralyan, LL.M. in International Human Rights Law, University of Essex

Zaruhi Harutyunyan, M.A. in Human Rights and Democratization, Center for European Studies