Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

The Armenian Unified Infocenter reported that during the night of October 24, Azerbaijan continued bombarding Armenian settlements. Artillery was used in the directions of the Karmir Shuka, Taghavard, Gishi, Spitakashen communities in the region of Martuni, and the village Avetaranots in the region of Askeran. Notably, the adversary has not only targeted peaceful settlements, but also nearby areas full of forests and fields of agricultural significance. There are no military objects in these settlements. There are no civilian casualties and wounded.

On October 23, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh/NK appealed to the Stepanakert Office of the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in connection with the publication in the Azerbaijani mass media of videos of soldiers of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh and a civilian held captive by the Azerbaijani side.

The need for the ICRC representatives to visit the prisoners of war and the hostage held captive in Azerbaijan and to ensure compliance by official Baku with its obligations under international humanitarian law regarding the captives' treatment and conditions of their detention was underlined.

The Republic of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan reported that based on their preliminary data around 90,000 civilians of Artsakh have fled their communities due to Azerbaijani deliberate and indiscriminate attacks and continuous threats. It means 60% of the entire population of the Republic, including those who left for both other communities of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia. The international community must make all the efforts to urgently stop the Azerbaijani atrocities and help those people to return their homes.

On October 25, the RA Human Rights Defender reported on his Facebook page that in Azerbaijan, cultural figures and artists, intellectuals publicly encourage and spread hatred and calls for violence against ethnic Armenians, earning public praise. Moreover, the style and words they used are almost the same as Armenophobic speeches and words used by the Government bodies and politicians.

Monitoring of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has collected credible facts confirming the above-mentioned. Current targeted attacks of the Azerbaijani armed forces against peaceful communities, the mass destruction, atrocities and inhuman treatment caused by them are the result of years of entrenched and systemic hatred towards Armenians. For years, Armenophobia and killings of Armenians have only been encouraged in Azerbaijan, and the perpetrators of these kinds of actions have been rewarded by the state. The Ombudsman of Armenia submits regular evidence of hatred towards ethnic Armenians to international organizations.

Earlier, Arman Tatoyan had reported that he had obtained objective evidence certifying that Azeris illegally take passwords and usernames of Armenian social network accounts and manage those pages themselves .

Evidence shows that these social network pages or accounts are activated from the Azerbaijani IP (Internet Protocol) domain. Our monitoring shows that these are our compatriots who taken as prisoners of war or otherwise appeared in Azerbaijan.

Hatred is being spread from the mentioned pages of Armenian users. These pages also spread materials to incite public and political enmity both in Armenia and Artsakh, generate tensions, panic and anxiety in the society.

According to the Armenian Unified Infocenter, so far 40 civilians have been killed, 120 civilians have been injured and 13.100 buildings have been damaged in the Republic of Artsakh/NK and the Republic of Armenia.

Read about the previous days HERE