Details added (first version posted on 10:55)
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal case on the use of chemical weapon against Azerbaijani civilians by Armenia, the Military Prosecutor's Office told Trend May 13.
An unexploded white phosphorus artillery shell was found in Eskipara village of Azerbaijan's Terter district by Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) and was disarmed by the agency's specialists on May 11.
The employees of the Special Investigation Unit of Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office inspected the territory where the shell was found.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the unexploded shell found in Eskipara village of Terter district is a D-4 type (smoke bomb) 122-mm artillery shell which contains 3.6 kilograms of P4 (the chemical code of white phosphorus).
By using such types of shells, Armenia grossly violates the Geneva Convention. By ignoring the international humanitarian norms, Armenian armed forces use such types of weapons not only while shelling the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces, but also the settlements and civilians.
Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal case upon this fact under the following articles of Azerbaijan's Criminal Code: Article 29,120.2.7 (attempt to kill two or more people), 29,120.2.12 (attempt to kill on ethnic, racial or religious grounds) and 116.0.16 (use of weapons, means and methods of warfare prohibited by interstate agreements during an armed conflict).
A preliminary investigation into the fact is underway in Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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