BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20
Trend:
The 18th meeting of the Prosecutor Generals of the SCO member-states, dedicated to the issues related to the fight against corruption, was held in the format of a videoconference on Oct. 20, Trend reports on Oct. 20 with reference to the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office.
Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation led by Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev at the event with the participation of prosecutors general of 15 countries and high-ranking representatives of international organizations.
Aliyev informed the participants about the Armenian Armed Forces’ shelling from the conflict zone of civilians living in the cities located far from the combat zone, including missile attacks on civilians in the center of Azerbaijan's second biggest city - Ganja, on October 4, 11 and 17, Mingachevir city having a strategic significance, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipelines, the missile attack on the Mingachevir hydroelectric power station, use of internationally banned weapons, as well as the participation of foreign mercenaries as part of the Armenian Armed Forces.
The Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office filed 37 criminal cases on the facts of crimes committed against civilians by the Armenian armed forces.
From September 27 up till now, as a result of the crimes committed by the Armenian armed forces against the civilians, 61 civilians were killed, including 7 children, 19 women, over 300 civilians were injured, more than 2,500 houses and civilian facilities were greatly damaged.
Prosecutor General Aliyev stressed that the Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive operation in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, liberating many villages, settlements, districts and cities.
Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov, Prosecutor General of Iran Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Prosecutor General of Uzbekistan Nigmatulla Yuldashev firmly condemned the attacks on the civilians, stressed the importance of the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the international law.
At the end of the event, the cooperation documents were signed and a decision was made to hold another meeting in 2021 in India.
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, 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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.