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Azerbaijan continues to destroy historical and cultural monuments in occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as part of its state policy aimed at completely erasing the Armenian traces there, Cultural Ombudsman of Hayk NGO Chairman Hovik Avanesov warns.

In a social media post on Monday, he said that on 24 December 2023 an Azerbaijani YouTube channel shared a video from Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh. The preliminary analysis of the footage has revealed that the monument of Armenian philanthropist and national figure Alek Manukyan in the city became the next victim of cultural genocide carried out by Azerbaijan.

“Article 8 of the International Criminal Court qualifies the destruction of cultural heritage in occupied territories as a war crime,” Avanesov wrote on Facebook.

“Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict prohibits any acts of vandalism against cultural property, their theft, pillage or misappropriation,” he added.