Tuesday, May 4 2021 10:28

ArmInfo. The Office of the Ombudsman of Armenia completed the analysis of 297 video materials and photographs about the atrocities of the Azerbaijani side against  Armenian military personnel and civilians, the destruction and  outrage of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage.   Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan announced this.

At the same time, he informed that these videos and photographs,  where the same person can appear in more than one video or photo, in  particular, relate to: 98 - torture and humiliation of the dignity of  prisoners; 17 - beheadings and murders; 32 - desecration of the  bodies of the dead and dismemberment of body parts (for example,  cutting off a hand or ear); 54 - managing the pages of prisoners'  social networks, including spreading hatred and distributing photos  of the beheaded soldier on the latter page; 49 - the use of weapons  of mass destruction, prohibited types of weapons against civilian  settlements and forest areas of Artsakh, including weapons containing  chemical elements; 26 - destruction and vandalism of the Armenian  historical, cultural and religious heritage, including monuments and  churches; 12 - pages of those sites and social networks (Telegram,  Instagram, etc.), which disseminated videos or photographs of the  cruelty of the Azerbaijani side against the captives of the Armenian  side, inciting hatred and enmity; 9 - participation in the war of  hired terrorists. The video recordings have been translated into  English, and some of them, at this stage, have already been  translated into Russian.

"Almost all living people and the dead have been identified. The  reliability of all video materials and photographs is confirmed by  the official logo of the RA human rights defender.

The study of the collected video materials and photographs shows that  the torture and cruelty of the Azerbaijani armed forces against the  captives of the Armenian side, inhuman treatment were committed on  the basis of ethnic hatred. That is, they were committed only because  the victims were Armenians, "the Ombudsman of Armenia stated.

At the same time, Tatoyan added that according to the same principle,  the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage, including  monuments and churches, was destroyed and vandalized.

"The Azerbaijani authorities must understand that they will not  remain unpunished for the indicated gross violations of human rights,  war crimes, systematic propaganda of Armenophobia and genocidal  policy.

The studies of the Armenian human rights defender and the results of  the consideration of complaints constantly confirm that the  Azerbaijani authorities, in gross violation of the requirements of  International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, are delaying the  release and return of the Armenian prisoners to their homeland,  deliberately do not report the real number of prisoners, " Tatoyan  noted.

According to the RA human rights defender, by this policy they  trample not only the rights of the Armenian prisoners of war  illegally held in Azerbaijan, but also inflict mental suffering on  them and the families of those who are considered missing,  deliberately contributing to tension in the Armenian society.  "All  the above video materials and photographs will be sent to the  relevant international structures, as well as the state bodies of  Armenia with the necessary explanations.  The Office of the Ombudsman  of Armenia continues to collect and study evidence of Azerbaijani  atrocities," he concluded.  To note, despite the undertaken  obligations, Azerbaijan has been keeping several hundred Armenian  prisoners and civilians for 6 months, refusing to return them under  various pretexts. Moreover, Baku cynically declares that it returned  to the Armenian side all prisoners and prisoners of war, and the rest  are "terrorists". Yesterday, the RA representatives at the ECHR  reported that the Azerbaijani military tortured and then killed 19  Armenian military and civilians, including 4 women.