From July to October 2020, the military-political leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in violation of requirements of trilateral agreement signed by the Ministers of Defense of the NKR, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, which entered into force on May 12, 1994, the UN Charter signed on June 26, 1945, the UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX), Article 8-bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted on June 17, 1998, the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, the Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict, as well as the requirements of the relevant norms of customary international humanitarian law, waged an aggressive war on the grounds of national hatred by using prohibited means and methods of warfare, endangering the lives of many, deliberately killing two or more people, and deliberately destroying property by means of an explosion.

 

In particular, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, in defiance of the obligation of maintaining international peace and security and with a view to that to take effective measures to prevent and eliminate threats to peace as well as to suppress aggression or other actions that disrupt peace, and based on the principles of justice and international law to achieve a peaceful settlement of international disputes or situations and disputes dangerous for the peace through peaceful means, as well as in defiance of the international legal obligation to develop friendly relations of nations based on the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, in violation of the ban on aggression, attacking and bombing unprotected settlements and demand for humanitarian attitude toward those not directly involved in military actions and not taking into account the negotiation format used for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, by using missile and artillery complex and unmanned aerial vehicles systematically and deliberately targeted dozen civilians of peaceful settlements not participating in military actions, including infants and women living in densely populated areas near the contact line of the RA and Azerbaijani Armed Forces, also the important civil infrastructures - buildings, roads, houses and other infrastructures.

 

As a result of these criminal acts many servicemen, peaceful residents and people not participating in the military actions were killed, representatives of mass media were wounded, military and civilian facilities suffered great damage, including the structure providing civil protection of the population, movable and immovable property of pysical and legal enteties.

 

In connection with the mentioned cases under Part 2 of Art. 384, Point 1 and Point 2 of Part 3 of Art. 390, Part 3 of Art. 391,  Part 1 of Art. 387, Points 1, 6, 7 and 13 of Part 2 of Art. 104, Points 1, 6, 7 and 13 of Part 2 of Art. 34-104 of the RA Criminal Code and Point 1 and Point 2 of Part 3 of Art. 185 of the RA Criminal Code have been initaited criminal cases.

 

In the course of the preliminary investigation were also obtained data regarding the following new criminal actions typical to the aggressive war unleashed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from September 27, 2020 up until now.

 

In particular, in Vardenis (Gegharkunik region) by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan was downed  Su-25 fighter jet of the RA Air Force, as a result of which the pilot of the RA Armed Forces, Major Valeri Danelin was killed.

 

As a result of the actions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a civilian bus located in Sotk settlement of Geghamasar community of Gegharkunik region was burned down, a number of residential houses of the same settlement were damaged. The buildings of the military unit located in Vardenis (Gegharkunik region, Republic of Armenia) were bombarded with unmanned aerial vehicles, a number of settlements inhabited by civilians in the same region were bombed, as a result of which a civilian was killed.

 

The enemy used artillery in the direction of Shatvan village of Gegharkunik region of Armenia, as well as launched missile strikes from UVS at Mets Masrik settlement, as a result of which a civilian was killed and two civilians were injured. The enemy shelled Vardenis-Sotk highway, Kut village of Vardenis.

 

Four unmanned aerial vehicles of the enemy crossing the RA border illegally appeared in the airspace of Kotayk and Gegharkunik regions, which were neutralized by the RA Armed Forces. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces targeted the bridge between Armenia and Artsakh on the Hakari River.

 

The aggressive war unleashed by the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan is also evidenced by the fact that the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan from September 27, 2020 with a view to achieve military superiority, by using all types of military units to their full potential, recruiting mercenaries, extremists and terrorists from international terrorist groups, using modern heavy missile and artillery complexes along the entire border of the Republic of Artsakh continuously, practically constantly launched large-scale aggressive offensive actions against the front lines of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Artsakh, military facilities, as well as peaceful settlements located significantly far from the border, including the capital Stepanakert (by using missile and artillery complexes and other military equipment strictly prohibited by the mentioned international conventions).

 

Moreover, journalists with badges and wearing corresponging uniforms for the represnetatives of mass media far from the front line, in the settlements or adjacent areas were also deliberately targeted.

 

Factual data were obtained that in the criminal actions militants from illegal armed terrorist and extremist groups transferred from Syria and Libya are directly involved in hostilities by Azerbaijan and they partcipate in the military actions.

 

These criminal actions against humanity and peace are the subject of investigation within the framework of criminal cases initiated by the competent authorities of the Republic of Artsakh.

 

In connection with all the mentioned cases, active procedural actions are being carried out in order to give a full criminal-legal assessment of the ongoing cases and hold the perpetrators accountable through the detailed documantation and evidence collection of crimes committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

 

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia actively cooperates with the Office of the RA Representative to the European Court of Human Rights within the framework of the process of providing factual data on total violations of fundamental human rights by the military-political leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan.