Criminal Cases Filed Against Leaders of Certain Communities Transferred to Azerbaijan

On February 2, 2021, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Artsakh submitted a report to the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office regarding the violations of community leaders in Artsakh. The ministry reported that based on the submitted information, criminal cases have been initiated against the leaders of the communities of Avetaranots, Kirsavan, Aigek, Togh, Moshkhmhat, Vazgenashen, and several others.

“As a result of the military actions unleashed against the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020, measures were taken to provide support to citizens registered in communities that fell outside the control of the Republic of Artsakh. In accordance with the decisions of the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated November 21, 2020, N 1820-L and November 27, 2020, N 1891-L, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia was provided with adjusted lists of beneficiaries to facilitate assistance,” the report states.

The work of verifying data for citizens who were registered in those communities before September 27, 2020, and had lived there for at least three months as of that date was carried out by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Artsakh. This process was carried out through the community leaders and heads of administrative departments, based on the lists submitted by them. However, during the implementation of this process, several discrepancies were revealed, leading to the assumption that the mentioned community leaders had provided clearly false information.

Considering the above, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Artsakh has appealed to the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office to take appropriate legal measures to determine whether the actions of the community leaders contain elements of crimes under Articles 322, 323, 332, or 334 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Artsakh,” the statement concludes.