Details added: first version posted on 13:05
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 7
Trend:
The Armenians mined huge territories in the ancestral Azerbaijani lands during the occupation, Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva said, Trend reports.
Aliyeva was commenting on the issue of Armenia's refusal to provide maps of minefields to Azerbaijan.
"This is a war crime,” the ombudsperson stressed.
“On June 4, as a result of an explosion of mine set by Armenian terrorists on the territory of the Kalbajar district (previously liberated from Armenian occupation), three Azerbaijani civilians were killed - two journalists and a government employee,” Aliyeva reminded.
“Despite the fact that about 7 months have passed since the end of the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict, Armenia still refuses to provide minefield maps, which is an open disrespect for international law, in particular, the norms and principles of international humanitarian law, and a grave crime,” the commissioner emphasized.
According to her, two professional journalists, Maharram Ibrahimov and Siraj Abishov, honorably fulfilled their official duty and filmed the consequences of the vandalism committed by the Armenian Armed Forces in the historical Azerbaijani lands, became victims of the Armenian crime.
"Since the beginning of the Second Karabakh war (from late Sept. to early Nov.2020), they were at the front together with Azerbaijani soldiers, fought with a camera in their hands. After the end of the war, they continued their work," Aliyeva said.
The ombudsperson noted that Abishov was from Azerbaijan’s Gubadly district. As a result of the policy of occupation and ethnic cleansing of Armenia, he was forced to live the life of a forced migrant from early childhood, she noted.
"Azerbaijani Ombudsman’s Institute constantly sends appeals to the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN, the Human Rights Council, the EU, and the CoE, international and European Ombudsman’s institutions, the Association of Ombudspersons of Asia, the OIC, ombudspersons of different countries and national human rights institutions,” she further said.
“In these appeals we demand from the international community and international structures to strongly urge Armenia to provide maps of minefields so that such cases don’t happen again, emphasizing the importance of taking necessary and urgent measures,” the Azerbaijani ombudsperson added.
“Unfortunately, the military-political leadership of Armenia has been still evading from the measures for absurd reasons. As a result of this irresponsible behavior of Armenia, which endangers the lives of people and creates opportunities for new crimes, after the signing of the trilateral statement on November 10, 2020, which ended the conflict, more than 140 people hit the mines, 27 of whom died. The rest received various injuries and became disabled,” Aliyeva said.
She stressed that Azerbaijan demands not to close its eyes to this serious issue, to a clear violation of the norms of international humanitarian law, and to exert tough pressure on Armenia.
"We declare once again that until Armenia provides maps of minefields, tragedies leading to the death of people will be inevitable, which aggravates the responsibility of this country, which has already committed many war crimes," concluded the ombudsperson.