Your trusted source

Taguhi Tovmasyan, an independent deputy of the Armenian parliament, has alerted her international colleagues to the first death from starvation reported in blockade-hit Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on Tuesday.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the Human Rights Defender’s Office said that a 40-year-old man identified as K Hovhannisyan had died of “chronic malnutrition, protein and energy deficiency”.

“The humanitarian disaster resulting from the complete blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan poses a grave threat to the lives of more than 100,000 Armenians residing in their homeland,” Tovmasyan said in statement on Wednesday.

“Azerbaijan conducts ethnic cleansing and genocidal policy in Artsakh, the consequences of which are brutally borne by the civilian population.

“I am preparing urgent letters to all embassies accredited in the Republic of Armenia and international humanitarian organizations. These letters aim to bring attention to the incident and to call for the implementation of preventive measures in order to safeguard the lives of 120,000 individuals and to restore the integrity of international humanitarian law that has been violated by Azerbaijan,” she added.