Our state must operate on the principle that 'every minute is precious' and target international mechanisms. Tatoyan

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia considers the closure of the Goris-Kapan road in Syunik to be a premeditated crime by Azerbaijani authorities against the entire civil population of Armenia. This was stated in a declaration by Arman Tatoyan.

"It is evident to me that the crime was carried out by their armed forces based on a provocation they themselves created. For the second consecutive day, Azerbaijani armed forces have kept the interstate road from Goris to Kapan closed. As a result, villages such as Vorotan in Goris, Shurnukh, Bardzravan, and a neighborhood of the New Arajya village in Kapan have been completely cut off from other towns.

The mentioned villages are experiencing severe restrictions on access to food, essential goods, and medical services, putting people in real danger of a humanitarian crisis. The civil population of these villages, including children, women, and the elderly, has had their freedom of movement significantly restricted due to the blatant criminal actions of Azerbaijani armed forces. Consequently, the Tatev-Kapan road in Syunik has been heavily burdened.

These actions by the Azerbaijani armed forces have resulted in massive violations of human rights in Armenia, disrupting people's freedom of movement, access to medical services, and disturbing the normal life of the civilian population and other vital rights guaranteed internationally.

Moreover, movement of various goods, including trucks transporting business-related cargo, has been severely limited, impacting movement between Iran and Armenia. In other words, the free movement along the Armenia-Iran route has been paralyzed.

Under my direct leadership, fact-finding efforts and analyses of reports and the situation have shown that two sections of the Goris-Kapan road were closed by orders from the highest Azerbaijani authorities. They are directly responsible for these criminal acts that have entirely disrupted people's safety, peaceful life, and tranquility, resulting in tension throughout society.

These acts consistently confirm my increasingly solid claims that the mere presence of Azerbaijani servicemen near Armenian villages and roads in Syunik violates the right to life, free movement, property rights, normal life, and other vital rights.

Our state must operate on the principle that 'every minute is precious' and strategically utilize international mechanisms. Throughout the day, my staff in the central office in Yerevan and in the Syunik regional subdivision have been in contact with residents and local self-governing bodies. Yesterday and today, the RA NSS border troops played an irreplaceable role in ensuring the safety of the Armenian civilian population.

We regularly send reports on the actual situation and the objective results of our fact-finding efforts to international bodies, including sending them to individual officials from organizations such as the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU, the OSCE, and others, as well as to Armenian bodies," the statement by the Human Rights Defender reads.