STEPANAKERT, NKR—The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh Republic/NKR) Ombudsman’s second interim report on Azerbaijani atrocities during the 2016 April War will be published on Dec. 9, reported the Artsakh Ombudsman’s office on Dec. 5.
According to the new report, 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 the NKR, were tortured, executed, or mutilated. The report also states that the war crimes had a systemic and well-organized nature, as they were committed in all three areas by all the regiments of the Azerbaijani armed forces that established control over the NKR civilians or NKR Defense Forces servicemen on April 2.
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 active phase of the armed conflict lasted through the noon of April 5, when by active interference of the international community the cease-fire regime of 1994 was restored.
Read also
On April 2, the first evidences of atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces emerged on social media.
NKR Ombudsman Yuri Hayrapetyan condemned Azerbaijani offensive by a public statement on April 2. On April 21, he issued a public report that addressed a wide range of human rights issues stemming from the Azerbaijani aggression, including beheadings, torture, and mutilation of combatants’ and civilians’ dead bodies, as well as indiscriminate shelling of civilian objects, etc. The report was prepared based on open-source information
As newly-elected 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 still 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.
