ArmInfo.The Human Rights Defender's Office carried out a fact- finding mission in the border villages of Tavush region affected by shelling by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan stated this at a press conference, presenting a report on the shelling of border villages in September 2018.
He stressed that the purpose of collecting information in the border villages that were shelled in September of this year was, first of all, to present the current situation in these localities. "All actions carried out by the Ombudsman's office were directed exclusively to protect the rights of civilians, who were bombarded for several days in September. After the research we carried out, it became obvious that the target of the Azerbaijani armed forces was the civilian population, as schools, gardens, local government buildings, as well as houses of civilians in the villages were shelled, " Tatoyan said, stressing that the shelling was carried out mostly in the daytime, when civilians were particularly active.
The Human Rights Defender stated that information was collected on the basis of alarms from residents of these communities. He stressed that during the collection of information, the staff of the Ombudsman's office interviewed villagers, inspected the facilities subjected to shelling, and conducted surveys. "I want to note that during the visit to the border villages, we not only collected information about the shelling, but also discussed social issues that are on the agenda in these localities. We discuss these issues and then let the government know about it, these issues are solved over time. In particular, we raised issues related to benefits, heating, the use of unused land ", the defender of human rights said. Tatoyan noted that in this case the rights of the most vulnerable groups of society, children, elderly women and people with disabilities were also violated. According to the Human Rights Defender, the human right to property was also violated, as residential buildings were also attacked. He also stressed that the border villages of Tavush region were listed on Google map. The Ombudsman stressed that this report will be submitted to the National Assembly, since the MPs have the opportunity to raise these issues at international platforms, also at the Foreign Ministry and a number of international human rights organizations. Tatoyan stressed that this report aims to present to the international community the situation that now prevails in the border villages. "This report is based on objective facts and pursues only one goal - to protect human rights. It has no connection with politics, with the government. All information collected on the basis of a visit to these settlements," Tatoyan concluded. To note, since September 2, the border villages of the Tavush region, Baghanis, Voskevan, Kochi and Vazashen, have been systematically attacked by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. These shelling were carried out on residential buildings.