Monday, January 30 2023 19:17

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.