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Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan has released evidence debunking Azerbaijan’s claims about the presence of Armenian army soldiers in Artsakh. Below is the full text of a statement issued by the ombudsman on Saturday.

"The request of the parents to transport the bodies of Samvel Torosyan and Yervand Tadevosyan, two of the four soldiers who died as a result of Azerbaijan's aggression (օn the night of June 27-28, 2023) against Artsakh, to Armenia and bury them in Yerablur, and the circumstances of their transportation by the ICRC are used by the Azerbaijani propaganda machine to claim that the RA armed forces are allegedly deployed in Artsakh.

With this claim, Azerbaijan is openly preparing an information ground for initiating new attacks against Artsakh, which is already being discussed in the Azerbaijani media․

Azerbaijan’s claims are false and have nothing to do with reality. In order to prove it, with the permission of the relatives of the fallen servicemen, we are publishing the facts collected by the Human rights defender of Artsakh.

Samvel Tigran Torosyan was born in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on December 16, 2003 (Picture 1: Samvel Torosyan's birth certificate). He attended Stepanakert No. 7 primary school. He continued his education in the secondary vocational educational program (college) of the Shushi Technological University with the qualification of urban cadastre (Picture 2: Samvel Torosyan's diploma). He was receiving higher education at the Faculty of Economics and Law of Mesrop Mashtots University in Stepanakert, majoring in information systems (Picture 3: Samvel Torosyan's student card). Samvel Torosyan was a citizen of the Republic of Artsakh, registered in the city of Stepanakert (Picture 4: Samvel Torosyan's passport). He was drafted into the army from the military commissariat of Stepanakert. The family and relatives permanently live in Stepanakert.

Yervand Hovhannes Tadevosyan was born on May 27, 2003 in the city of Berdzor, Kashatagh region of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Picture 5: Yervand Tadevosyan's birth certificate). He attended secondary school No. 2 named after V. Zatikyan of Berdzor. He completed primary education in 2018 (Picture 6: Yervand Tadevosyan's primary education certificate). Yervand Tadevosyan was a citizen of the Republic of Artsakh, he was registered in the city of Berdzor (Picture 7: Yervand Tadevosyan's passport). He was drafted to army from the military commissariat of Kashatagh. After the 2020 war, Yervand Tadevosyan's family, as a forcibly displaced family, found refuge in the Ararat province of the Republic of Armenia, continuing to maintain the citizenship of the Republic of Artsakh.

To prevent possible speculations about the presented documents, we remind that the identity documents of all citizens of the Republic of Artsakh are issued by the Republic of Armenia, with the difference of their registration address. It is a well-known approach, which is used due to the non-recognition of Artsakh, so that Artsakh residents can travel and exercise their rights in other countries as well. This approach is applied to citizens of almost all unrecognized states in the world, taking into account the gaps in international law and international relations with regard to human rights protection.

Samvel Torosyan and Yervand Tadevosyan’s parents decided to bury their children in the "Yerablur" military memorial-pantheon of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with their rights. It is noteworthy that this is not a new approach, and in previous years, many servicemen of the Artsakh Republic were also buried in Yerablur, taking into account the nationwide importance of that pantheon.

Regarding the false claims of Azerbaijan about the military service of RA citizens (residents) in the ranks of the Artsakh Defense Army, the continuous fact-finding efforts of the Human rights defender prove that since 2021, only citizens and residents of the Republic of Artsakh perform military service in Artsakh. Hence, we draw the attention of the responsible actors of the international community to the fact that the Azerbaijani side, encouraged by the impunity for the blockade of Artsakh and its military aggressions against it, is looking for new justifications to carry out new criminal actions against the people of Artsakh."