Your trusted source

Yeraskh village of Ararat province is subjected to regular shelling by the Azerbaijani armed forces, both during the day and night, Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan reports. In the words of the Ombudsman on October 15,  the village has been subjected to shelling again.

"The unruliness of the Azerbaijani servicemen has reached such a level that they set fire through intentional shootings to 8000 stacks of grass belonging to a resident of Yeraskh community. The entire winter stockpile, which the citizen had collected to feed his livestock, has been destroyed," said Tatoyan, adding the fire spread destroying the roof of the barn belonging to the citizen. The fire was extinguished only by the timely intervention of the firefighters, saving the remaining part of the roof.

"Taking into consideration that the Azerbaijani positions are located in the immediate vicinity of the village, it is evident to the Azerbaijani servicemen know that their actions are harming the residents of the village, destroying their property, violating their rights to life and property, and are disturbing their life and peace.

The process of creating a demilitarized security zone around the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan and the removal of the Azerbaijani armed servicemen form the vicinity of the villages and from the roads between the communities of Armenia should start immediately," the Ombudsman stressed. 

It is noted that the proposal of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has already been included in an international instrument- in Resolution 2391 (2021) of September 27, 2021 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The Human Rights Defender will send relevant reports about this situation to international organizations, to the State bodies of Armenia, and to civil society organizations.

"It is evident that the basis of these criminal harassments and the gross violations of human rights is the same: The policy of Armenophobia and enmity, and of ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Azerbaijani authorities. This policy has institutional bases, and until the perpetrators are punished, the violations will not end, and the security of the people will not be guaranteed," Tatoyan concluded.