1. Today the Azerbaijani military forces targeted and bombarded
one of the historical symbols of Armenian architecture, the St. All Savior
Ghazancetsots Church of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), located in Shushi city
center.
Azerbaijani military forces launched the second missile attack
shortly after the first one. The missile attacks caused significant destruction
to the Cathedral.
2. At the moment of the first missile attack there were only
children, women, and elderly in the basement of the Cathedral. And since there
was only a very short break between those two air strikes, a number of
children, women, and elderly were still in the basement of the Cathedral.
3. The results of the urgent investigation by the Human Rights
Defender provide evidence to conclude that the targeted air strikes on Shushi
St. All Saviour Ghazancetsots Church were made with an intent to inflict
destruction on the Cathedral and death of the children, women, and elderly
located in the basement, i.e. commit killing.
4. We must emphasize, that before the air strikes, there was a
journalistic video material posted and disseminated in the internet, which
explicitly showed that there are children, women, and elderly in the basement
of the Cathedral.
Moreover, the women in the video material confirmed that the
Azerbaijani military forces conducted targeted military attacks on the
residential buildings in Shushi. And due to that reason, they had sought
shelter from the targeted strikes in the basement of the Cathedral. Further in
the video, the peaceful residents noted that the Azerbaijani strikes were so
extensive that there was no place for shelter in other basements, and that was
the reason why they had sheltered in the basement of the Cathedral.
5. Additionally, right after the first Azerbaijani air strike on
the Cathedral there was information largely disseminated, including photo and
video materials, on peaceful residents being located in the basement. This
information was also published by the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of
Armenia, whom closely follow the Azerbaijani official sources.
6. Despite this, the Azerbaijani forces hit the Cathedral for
the second time shortly after the first strike.
7. The aforementioned clearly shows that the Azerbaijani
missiles were launched with the criminal intent to deprive the sheltered
children, women, and elderly of their lives and to cause destruction of the
Cathedral.
8. Furthermore, as a result of the air strikes on Shushi
Cathedral, three journalists were injured, one of the is in extremely grave
condition. The doctors in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh, are fighting for
his life.
The Human Rights Defender states again, that the work of the
media in the conflict zone has a legitimate purpose, it is aimed at providing
the world with objective information on the military attacks. Moreover, the
work of the journalists has a human rights protection objective and contributes
to the prevention of conflicts.
9. I specifically emphasize, that Shushi is the second largest
city of Artsakh, densely populated: it is a peaceful residential site. The St.
All Saviour Ghazanchetsots Cathedral is located in the center of the city, and
there is no military object nearby.
10. The aforementioned explicitly witnesses as to the
Azerbaijani criminal intent to destroy the Armenian historical exceptional
cultural heritage and kill peaceful residents and international journalists
performing their professional duties.
Tomorrow, the Human Rights Defender will send the statement on
this substantiated conclusion, along with the evidence and the necessary
analysis to all international organizations and embassies in appropriate
formats and procedure.
11. The accounts of this statement are based on the Human Rights
Defender’s own urgent fact finding work, facts registered and evidence
collected by the Artsakh Human Rights Defender, including the interviews with
the residents of Shushi. Journalistic video materials and other evidence along
with factual data have also been accepted as a basis.
12. I call firmly upon the international community once again to
draw their attention on these extremely dangerous incidents and continuous
humanitarian disaster with an aim to undertake actual measures to immediately
stop those.
Arman Tatoyan
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia
Հայերեն
