Head of the Armenian Mission to the OSCE, Ambassador Aram Kirakosyan briefed the OSCE Permanent Council on the violations of the international humanitarian law by Azerbaijan.
The Ambassador noted that Azerbaijan targeted populated areas and civilians, including children and elderly people, in Nagorno Karabakh during the recent large-scale attack. One of the first victims was Vagharshak Grigoryan, 12, who was killed as a result of shelling from Grad system on his way to school, while two other children were injured.
The Ambassador referred to the torture and cruel killing of three members of a family in the village of Talish. He added that servicemen Hayk Toroyan, Hrant Gharibyan and Karam Sloyan were beheaded in a style peculiar to the Islamic State terrorist organization.
The Azerbaijani social media were flooded with photos of tortured Armenians soldiers. The bodies that Azerbaijan returned to the Armenian side with the mediation of the ICRC and the Office of the Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office had signs of mutilation.
Ambassador Kirakosyan stressed that such barbaric acts contradict the elementary norms of the civilized world, constitute violations of the basic principles of international documents, including the Universal declaration of Human Rights, the Convention of Children’s’ Rights, the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols and amount to war crimes.
Arman Kirakosyan informed that criminal cases have been launched by the Karabakh authorities to investigate all circumstances. He stressed the importance of condemnation of the crimes and the punishment of the perpetrators.
