Another Act of Vandalism: Cemetery Near Shushi's Holy Ghazanchetsots Church Destroyed

The cemetery located near the Holy Ghazanchetsots Church in Shushi has been completely destroyed.

The Caucasus Heritage Watch organization published satellite images on their microblog, which testify to the destruction that has taken place.

They remind us that the complete destruction of cemeteries in Artsakh has occurred for the third time since the 2020 war. However, this is the first incident following the International Court of Justice ruling that mandated Azerbaijan to prevent and punish acts of vandalism against Armenian cultural heritage.

The destruction of the cemetery began in October 2023. The organization reported this on November 27.

“At that time, it was still possible to prevent the destruction of the cemetery. But by December 2023, the cemetery had already been almost entirely destroyed,” the statement from CHW reads.

The statement mentions that there are four more damaged cemeteries in Artsakh that have not been completely destroyed, but have suffered significant damage.

“Driving bulldozers over Armenian cemeteries has become common in Azerbaijan. That country has decided to eliminate uncomfortable evidence regarding land ownership and the history of coexistence between peoples,” the statement concludes.