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The Azerbaijani authorities must compensate for damage caused to all Armenian villagers, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said on Friday.

He shared the copies of two documents on Facebook, presenting damage caused to villagers due to the illegal presence of Azerbaijani forces on Armenian territory.

“One of these documents provides an estimate of the amount of damage caused as a result of the destruction of a garden belonging to a resident of the village of Davit-Bek (Syunik Province). The other is a contract for the lease of a land plot for agricultural purposes concluded by a resident of Vardenis (Gegharkunik Province), but now the farmer is deprived of the opportunity to use it,” he wrote.

“The documents prove that the property, social security and other legal rights of the Syunik and Gegharkunik residents have been violated due to the illegal presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces.

“The Azerbaijani authorities must be held accountable and must compensate for damage caused to all our villagers. They must provide compensation for the fact that, in addition to serious security threats, they have disrupted the daily peaceful life of people and have deprived them of the opportunity to earn a living.

“These facts confirm once again that border-related issues cannot be considered separately from the rights of border residents. No matter what political mechanism is used to address these issues, it cannot succeed if human rights are not taken into account,” the ombudsman said.

He stressed the need to use all the opportunities and take consistent steps to restore the violated rights of border residents.

“Impunity makes the risk of recurrence of more serious violations real,” Tatoyan said.