Details added: the first version posted on 12:19
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15
By Humay Aghajanova - Trend:
Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva issued a statement on the anniversary of shelling civilians during the funeral at the city cemetery in Tartar by the Armenian armed forces during the second Karabakh war in 2020, Trend reports citing the Office of the Ombudsman.
"During the second Karabakh war, Armenia shelled various settlements of Azerbaijan, in most cases, using ballistic missiles. The Tartar district of Azerbaijan is the district that was most of all continuously shelled," said the statement.
"On October 15 last year, the Armenian armed forces, once again violating international humanitarian law, deliberately bombarded funeral procession at the city cemetery in Tartar with heavy artillery funeral. As a result, four civilians who participated in the funeral procession were killed, four more were injured," the statement reminded.
"During that time, authoritative international organizations, religious leaders and the world community were informed on this. Also, an appeal was made to take urgent measures establishing international legal responsibility for the next fact of gross violation of international law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949," further said the ombudsman's statement.
"However, despite the presented irrefutable evidence, this criminal act, like other numerous war crimes committed by Armenia, was not given a legal assessment at the international level," the statement also noted.
According to the document, intensive shelling of cemeteries by Armenia, committing acts of vandalism on graves once again proved the intolerance of Armenia as a mono-ethnic state towards people of other religions and other nationalities.
"With great regret, it must be noted that after the liberation of the territories [from Armenian occupation during the second Karabakh war], the facts of destruction, desecration and looting of the graves of Azerbaijanis were revealed."
The ombudsman once again called on international organizations, religious leaders and the entire international community to take the necessary measures on establishing international legal responsibility against the military-political leadership of Armenia, which contributes to gross violation of human rights and freedoms by committing war crimes, acts of terror and vandalism.
The appeal was sent to the UN Secretary General, the Security Council, the leadership of UNICEF, UNESCO, EU, CE, OSCE, international and European institutions of ombudsmen, the Asian Ombudsmen Association, the OIC and the Association of Ombudsmen of the member states of this organization, the Independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights of the OIC, the International Peace Bureau, European Network of Ombudsmen for Children's Rights, Federation for World Peace, ombudsmen of various countries and national human rights institutions, embassies of foreign countries in Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani diaspora organizations.
Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.
A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.
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, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.