21 Civilians Killed Under Azerbaijani Captivity or Control: Artak Beglaryan

The Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, Artak Beglaryan, stated on his Facebook page: “The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh has prepared and published an interim report regarding the killings of civilians by Azerbaijani armed forces. The report summarizes the incidents of civilian deaths resulting from targeted strikes during the military aggression of Azerbaijan and Turkey against the Republic of Artsakh from September 27, 2020, and the killings of civilians under the control (captivity) of the Azerbaijani armed forces, presenting brief information related to these cases.

From September 27 to December 22, 2020, 60 civilians have been verified to have been killed by Azerbaijani armed forces, including 39 as a result of targeted strikes and 21 while in captivity. Incidents of torture, mutilation of corpses, and targeted strikes that inevitably led to civilian deaths have been recorded. The Human Rights Defender also documented the injuries of 163 civilians, a significant portion of which occurred due to strikes that resulted in the deaths of others.

The document presents only proven cases, substantiated with indisputable grounds; however, the Human Rights Defender's office has also received partial information regarding other alleged cases that have yet to be fully verified. In addition, by the time of the report's publication, names of about 40 missing civilians have been documented based on the Defender's investigative activities, some of whom are confirmed to be in Azerbaijani captivity, despite the official silence from Azerbaijani authorities. However, practice suggests that some of these civilians have presumably been killed by Azerbaijani armed forces, and it cannot be ruled out that their bodies will be found as part of ongoing searches in their places of residence, as has been the case for some bodies found until today. For these reasons, the presented lists and statistics remain preliminary, and fact-finding efforts continue.

In the report's second section, data on 39 civilian victims killed as a result of long-range strikes by Azerbaijani armed forces is presented, including incidents of shelling, artillery fire, bombing, and gunfire from diversionary groups. Section 3 summarizes the data on 21 civilian victims who were killed under Azerbaijani captivity or at least under their control, involving the use of physical violence, stabbing, beheading, gunfire from close range, and other direct means. Considering that the bodies of some victims were found quite some time after their deaths, it has become impossible to thoroughly assess the circumstances of death and traces of the committed crimes in specific cases. However, brief information from preliminary conclusions of forensic examinations is also presented for certain incidents.