ArmInfo. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN, holds public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Armenia in the case concerning Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) on Monday 30 January 2023, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court. Session held under the presidency of Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court.
Thus, according to the some media reports, during his speech in the Court, Representative of Armenia for International Legal Matters, Yeghishe Kirakosyan noted that the Armenian side had hopes that the issues included in the request should have been resolved long ago with the intervention of the UN Security Council. At the same time, he drew attention to Azerbaijan's intention to "strangle" the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Kirakosyan noted that one person has already died due to lack of medical care (Artsakh State Minister Ruben Varadanyan announced the death of 10 people - ed. note).
"Shop shelves are empty, products are being rationed, there is a significant shortage of medicines and other medical supplies. Despite this humanitarian crisis, Azerbaijan is trying to justify and perpetuate its blockade using "environmental fictions" that nobody believes. "Azerbaijan is doing all this despite its obligation to guarantee the safe movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo through the Lachin Corridor, which was stated in the statement of November 9, 2020," Kirakosyan said.
At the same time, he stressed that more than a month has passed since the ECHR ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to ensure the safe movement of seriously ill patients in need of medical care to Armenia. "But Azerbaijan also ignored the Strasbourg court. If the court does not take immediate action, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will face a difficult choice: to leave their ancestral homes or stay there and die of hunger. President Aliyev openly demanded that the Armenians leave Nagorno-Karabakh. He stated that the main duty of Azerbaijan is the eviction of Armenians from "their" lands. He said that Armenian songs would not be heard there, and that from now on this land will be dominated by the Azerbaijani language. The blockade, interruptions in the supply of gas and electricity are done precisely in order to bring to such a result.
The President of Azerbaijan openly stated: "If someone does not want to be our citizen, then the path is open, they can leave, no one will stop them. They can leave under the protection of peacekeepers." In other words, ethnic Armenians cannot enter Karabakh, but they can leave it. Such egregious acts of ethnic cleansing cannot be allowed today. And this court is the last hope of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh," Kirakosyan said during the hearings at the International Court of Justice.