Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On June 10, 2024, the HCAV submitted a crime report to the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Armenia against the authorities of Azerbaijan, namely, 

• The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev

• Colonel-general Zakir Hasanov, the minister of defense of Azerbaijan, 

• Karim Valiyev, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan

• Ali Naghiyev, minister of national security of Azerbaijan in connection with the wars unleashed against the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, war crimes, and the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. The unleashed actions by the Azerbaijani government were accompanied by massive  violations of international humanitarian law, including the use of forbidden weapons up to attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure, targeting maternity hospitals, kindergartens, schools, and civilian populations, tortures of captives and civilians, and destruction of cultural values. 

A crime report was submitted to the RA general prosecutor’s office about all crimes committed by the Azerbaijani government under the Criminal Code of RA in accordance with articles 33, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 144, 145, 146, 147, and 153. In addition to many international and domestic reports, resolutions, and announcements about the facts of war crimes committed by the leaders of the Azerbaijani regime, the report published by HCAV and its partners was also put on the basis of the crime report. All the committed crimes were thoroughly presented under the above-mentioned article with facts, links, and necessary criminal analysis. 

On June 18, 2024, the General Military Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of RA, in response, made a decision not to initiate a criminal proceeding, justifying that criminal proceedings no. 69108320, no. 90154822, and no. 90157523 have already been initiated in connection to some of the mentioned crimes. 

There are official statements and publications regarding the initiation of these proceedings. 

On July 1, 2024, HCAV appealed the decision of the RA General Prosecutor’s Office of not initiating a criminal proceeding and demanded to initiate proceedings concerning all the mentioned crimes, give an adequate legal assessment, conduct proper and thorough investigation, in accordance with the legitimate request, implement a decent and full investigation with a legal demand, as the criminal cases initiated only cover some of the articles we mentioned. 

On the other hand, we are not aware of the specific articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia under which the criminal cases have been initiated. We are not aware of the investigation process either. Eventually, only in case of being involved in criminal proceedings, we can exercise the powers defined by the RA Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, of which we are now deprived.