Thursday, February 9 2023 17:23

ArmInfo.Armenia has repeatedly raised the need for a proper international investigation of the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan and demanded accountability  of perpetrators and organisers of the crimes, including through the  adoption of international sanctions.

 This was stated by the Press Secretary of the RA MFA Vahan Hunanyan to "Armenpress" agency in response to a request to comment on the recently published letter of the UN mandate-holders (Special Rapporteurs) addressed to Azerbaijan,  demanding explanations from the government of Azerbaijan regarding  the cases of war crimes committed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan  during the military aggression unleashed against the Republic of  Armenia on September 13, 2022.

As the press service of he RA MFA reports, the representative of the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia in particular  noted: "In the letter of demand, the UN mandate-holders express deep  concern over the events and call on Azerbaijan to undertake all  necessary measures towards stopping similar violations, preventing  their recurrence and ensuring the punishment of any person or persons  responsible for committing these crimes.

You may remember that in order to alleviate the anger of the  international community and divert attention, last autumn Azerbaijan  announced the initiation of an investigation into the war crimes  committed by its armed forces. As follows from the disregard of the  UN mandate-holders' letter of demand, the so-called investigation was  just a sham to cover up the problem.

The UN mandate-holders did not receive a response to their requests  on the cases of Armenian prisoners of war and other detained persons  held illegally in Azerbaijan, as well as enforced disappearances  after the 44-day war.

Thus, we can state that Azerbaijan, being a member of UN fundamental  documents on human rights, grossly violates them, does not take into  account the assignments given to it by the UN bodies and does not  cooperate with such important bodies that monitor the provision of UN  human rights, such as the mandate-holders (special rapporteurs and  independent experts).

In this situation, it is imperative to carry out a proper  international investigation of the war crimes committed by the  Azerbaijani side, holding the perpetrators and organisers  accountable. Besides, the international community is obliged to  increase the pressure for the immediate repatriation of all Armenian  prisoners of war and civilians illegally held in Azerbaijan, for the  disclosure of enforced disappearances and the fates of the missing  persons.

Highly appreciating the cooperation with the UN bodies, including the  special procedures, Armenia wants to draw attention to the fact that  recently Azerbaijan adopted the method of intimidation and pressure  on the UN bodies to force them not to raise the cases of flagrant  violations of human rights by Azerbaijan and even more re-editing  statements previously made by the UN. We are witnessing all this in  the context of the announcements on the blockade of the Lachin  corridor and keeping the people of Nagorno-Karabakh under siege.

Despite Azerbaijan's actions, we are convinced that all UN bodies,  including those primarily dealing with human rights issues, will  continue to carry out their work in accordance with the letter and  spirit of the UN Charter," Hunanyan summed up.