Video: All Winter Supplies Collected for Animals Destroyed in Yeraskh - Human Rights Defender Provides Details

The Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has addressed the gunfire from Azerbaijani forces in the direction of Yeraskh and its consequences: "The village of Yeraskh in the Ararat region of Armenia is regularly subjected to shelling by Azerbaijani armed forces, both during the day and at night. Today, on October 15, 2021, starting from 12:00 PM, the village again came under targeted shelling. The Azerbaijani soldiers' unchecked behavior reached the point where at around 1:15 PM, they deliberately set fire to 8 thousand bales of hay belonging to a resident of the Yeraskh community. All winter supplies, which the citizen had painstakingly gathered over the year to feed their animals, were destroyed. Furthermore, the fire spread and burned the roof of the citizen's barn. It was only due to the timely intervention of firefighters that the fire was managed to be extinguished, preventing the rest of the citizen’s roof from being burned. These details have been verified and confirmed through alerts sent to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, collected objective evidence, and data verified by several sources.

The fact of today's shelling on the positions of the Armenian armed forces defending the residents of the village of Yeraskh has also been confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. Given that the Azerbaijani positions are located in close proximity to the village, it is evident that Azerbaijani soldiers clearly intend to harm the villagers, destroy their property, violate their rights to life and property, and disrupt peaceful life and security.

It is essential to immediately commence the process of establishing a demilitarized security zone around the borders with Azerbaijan and to remove Azerbaijani armed personnel from near Armenian villages and community roads. This proposal from the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is already included in a specific international document—the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Resolution No. 2391 (2021) dated September 27, 2021. The Human Rights Defender will also send appropriate reports to international organizations, state bodies of Armenia, and civil society organizations.

It is evident that the basis of these criminal offenses and gross violations of human rights stems from a single source: the hatred and animosity of the Azerbaijani authorities, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal policies. This policy has institutional foundations, and as long as the perpetrators of these crimes are not held accountable, the violations will not cease, and the safety of the people will not be ensured.