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The Azerbaijani authorities continue to destroy historical and architectural monuments in Stepanakert, the capital of occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

“Using heavy machinery, Azerbaijani vandals destroyed not only the building of the Artsakh National Assembly and the office of the Union of Freedom Fighters in Stepanakert, but also the sculptures in the Renaissance Square in the Artsakh capital," Cultural Ombudsman of Hayk Hovik Avanesov posted on Facebook on Friday.

"This is yet another evidence of Azerbaijan’s cultural genocide in occupied Artsakh at the state level," he noted.

The expert highlights that Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict prohibits any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism directed against, cultural property.

Furthermore, the first Hague Protocol of 1954 explicitly forbids the destruction of cultural or spiritual values in occupied territories.

The photos below were provided by Mkhitar Karapetyan, a partner of the Cultural Ombudsman of Hayk NGO.