The Ombudsman Sends Evidence of War Crimes to States with General Jurisdiction: Tatoyan

“Today we completed the research on new evidence of Azerbaijani war crimes during the 44-day war and the reports to be sent to the Prosecutor's Office and Police bodies of states that have general jurisdiction. Reports will also be sent to their Foreign Affairs Ministries,” stated Armenia's Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan.

“To grasp the scope of the work, let me say that only from objective evidence, there are 245 video recordings and 120 photographs concerning torture, murders, and atrocities, totaling 365 pieces of evidence. The reports are substantiated by facts and address the following main issues: 1) the deliberate killing of prisoners of war and civilians, 2) torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, including beheadings, mutilation, etc., 3) desecration of the bodies of killed servicemen and civilians, 4) destruction of civilian population and civilian settlements using prohibited cluster munitions, 5) the use of jihadists and terrorists in the war against Artsakh, 6) the application of weapons of mass destruction containing chemical elements, 7) the unleashing of war during the COVID-19 pandemic which paralyzed the healthcare systems of Artsakh and Armenia and contributed to a sharp increase in deaths, 8) evidence of the torture of servicemen and civilian captives based on religious affiliation, the destruction and desecration of churches, and a policy aimed at erasing their affiliation, 9) illegal management of social media accounts of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijani military personnel and incitement and promotion of inter-ethnic hostility between the two peoples, 10) the artificial delay of the repatriation of captives for political calculations (effectively human trafficking) causing mental suffering to their families.

The videos have been translated from Azerbaijani or Russian (in some videos Azerbaijani soldiers speak in Russian) and recorded in English or Russian with subtitles; they have been systematically analyzed, and several hundred pages of my and the Human Rights Defenders of Artsakh (Ruben Melikyan, Artak Beglaryan, Gegham G. Stepanyan) reports from 2016 to 2022 have been attached. Reports from NGOs have also been attached.

Moreover, in all possible cases, we specifically noted which entities we believe have committed the crimes and should be held criminally liable. Specific officials have also been mentioned. We demonstrated that these crimes are the result of ongoing Azerbaijani policies of hatred and enmity, a product of ethnic cleansing, and this threat has not yet been eliminated. The videos are also sealed with the logo of the Armenian Human Rights Defender's office as a mark of the reliability of the information.

This is my second report after the war. This time we have taken a slightly different approach. We will see what the process shows. In any case, we must do everything in our power to ensure that the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity against our compatriots are held accountable to prevent further violations.

All materials will also be sent to international organizations (UN, CoE, EU, etc.). These works have been carried out by the staff of the Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and Artsakh, experts, and our partners working together,” the Ombudsman’s statement indicated.