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Arman Tatoyan, the ombudsman of Armenia, accused Azerbaijan of violating its commitments before the Council of Europe during the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh as the Azerbaijan armed forces targeted kindergartens and schools, as well as other civilian objects; there were cases of civilians being killed, the Caucasian Knot reports from an April 6 press-conference in the NKR.

“All the crimes were committed with particular cruelty... The Azerbaijani soldiers’ acts show signs of crimes motivated by ethnic hatred,” Tatoyan stressed.

He said the Ombudsman’s Office will make a report based on the outcomes of an investigation of the facts of crimes and will submit it to international offices, the Council of Europe and the UN in particular, as well as to international rights groups. “Those crimes must be condemned. Such atrocities are impermissible in the territory of Europe.”

Rights defender Artak Kirakosyan, the chairman of the Civil Society Institute, called for an implementation of all the mechanisms of the international law to punish those guilty of military crimes. He also offered Azerbaijan to apply to the international court, as well, in case it possesses facts of violations of the UN conventions.  

According to the rights defender, there are many military crimes taking place in the world with impunity, while the international law is “still in the phase of development, and there are no clear mechanisms to react to such crimes yet.”

“The committed military crimes should be documented. The Armenian ombudsman’s trip to Nagorno Karabakh is crucial for carrying out works in that direction. If not today or tomorrow, those who committed military crimes will be punished in five or ten years when the situation may change. That is why a documentation of all the facts is needed,” he pointed out, as cited by the website.

Edmon Marukyan, an independent Armenian MP, believes “it is necessary to implement the entire diplomatic potential” and apply to the International Criminal Court through the UN Security Council, because neither Armenia, nor Azerbaijan have ratified the Rome Statute. “The military crimes should become a subject of discussion in the UN Security Council,” Marukyan maintains.

According to Armenia’s first ombudsman Larisa Alaveryan, who heads Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO, Armenia’s application to the International Criminal Court will become “a test for the institutes of the international community.”

Alaverdyan believes the outcomes of the appeal to the court depend on the geopolitical situation, as well as on the interests of the key powers, which “pursue other aims in the international relations.” She is convinced that Armenia’s application to the International Court is “highly important for the small countries, whose peoples suffer the most amid the clashes of the interests of the superstates.”

The Caucasian Knot also reminds its readers that on April 3, the media published photos taken in the village of Talysh showing corpses of three old people with traces of mutilation. The Azerbaijani side denies responsibility. Three days later, on April 6, the Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic filed a criminal case over the crimes committed by the soldiers of the Azerbaijani army.