BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4
Trend:
Azerbaijani Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) Sabina Aliyeva issued an appeal in connection with the death of civilians (media representatives) in Azerbaijan's Kalbajar district as a result of the mine explosion, Trend reports citing the ombudsperson's office.
According to official sources, on June 4 in the territory of Susuzlug village, Kalbajar district, employees of the Azerbaijan Television and the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAG), who made photo and video reports in the liberated (from Armenian occupation) territories, were killed by a mine explosion, including two journalists and an employee of a state structure who performed their official duties, and four people received injuries of varying severity, the appeal said.
Since the day of the signing of the trilateral statement (November 10, 2020, to put end to the Second Karabakh war from late), mines installed by Armenia during the occupation of Azerbaijani territories (from 1994 to 2020) have led to the death and injury of more than 120 people, the appeal further noted.
“The refusal of the political and military leadership of Armenia to provide maps of minefields, mining by the Armenian army of Azerbaijani territories while it was leaving them, attempts until the last day to install new mines through sabotage groups indicate that the Armenian side is interested in the death of even more people and creating new hotbeds of conflict,” added the appeal. “We are deeply concerned about this situation, which poses a serious threat to the life and health of people in the region. As the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, we have repeatedly expressed our concern to international human rights structures, appealed to the Armenian leadership to set certain requirements to prevent human casualties.”
“We state with regret that due to the fact that no international pressure is exerted on Armenia to provide maps of minefields, the number of victims is growing every day. We believe that the relevant international human rights organizations should not be indifferent to these human rights violations and should take appropriate steps within their mandate,” the appeal noted.
“Once again addressing the relevant international human rights organizations, we urge them not to show indifference to these human rights violations and to responsibly treat the requirements of their mandate in order to force the military-political leadership of Armenia to refrain from committing criminal acts. The Institute of the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan will continue to work on exposing these and other grave war crimes of the military-political leadership of Armenia and bringing it to justice,” summed up the appeal.