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It is with regret to admit that living in Artsakh is no more secure as shown by our experience of the past five months, Deputy at the Artsakh National Assembly from "Justice" faction Metakse Hakobyan has told an interview with Pastinfo news agency. Hakobyan's remarks came when asked to comment on the recent incident in Sarushen village of the Artsakh Republic.  

To remind, on April 7, at around 9:40am, Azerbaijani soldiers opened gunfire from the Azeri-occupied Sargsashen village towards 65-year-old Shirin Sargsyan and 36-year-old Vitaly Harutyunyan, residents of the Sarushen village who were doing agricultural work in the fields of Sarushen at the time, Artsakh’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on Monday.

The Azerbaijani side used a machine gun, as a result of which the left-side window of a tractor belonging to Harutyunyan was broken. Investigators of Askeran Regional Police have questioned the farmers, have taken photos of the scene and the tractor and have prepared relevant materials to be submitted to the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

Hakobyan reminded that Azerbaijani violations of the provisions set out in the trilateral statement have been voiced by the Artsakh Ombudsman as well as the Human Rights Defender of Armenia. "We need the support of the RA Human Rights Defender to raise all security concerns of the local population on international arena," Hakobyan said.  

Hakobyan said that Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan has noted that the road leading to Sarushen remains under the control of our forces and there are Armenian checkpoints. "I have passed through that road myself and noticed Russian observations posts there, but not Armenian. This poses a real threat to the security of the locals and it is important to ensure their safety," the lawmakers noted. 

She added, that Azerbaijanis want to control the road leading to Sarushen and if they succeed, the Armenian population will be cleansed of all nearby villages.