Sweden-Armenia Friendship Group of Swedish Riksdag issues statement  over situation in Nagorno- Karabakh

ArmInfo.The Sweden-Armenia Friendship Group of the Swedish Riksdag issued a statement regarding the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We, the undersigned Members of the Sweden-Armenia Friendship Group  of the Swedish Riksdag, are deeply concerned about the situation in  Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). On December 12, 2022 a group of  Azerbaijani state-sponsored special services agents presenting  themselves as alleged "environmental activists" blocked the Lachin  Corridor (the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the  outside world). 

As a result of Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor  approximately 120.000 residents of Artsakh found themselves under  siege. Furthermore, about 30.000 citizens of the Republic of Artsakh  were deprived of the opportunity to return to their homeland,  thousands of them have been separated from their families. Since  January 9, 2023, Azerbaijan has disrupted the supply of electricity  through the sole high-voltage line between Armenia and Artsakh, which  has caused significant energy and humanitarian problems in Artsakh.  There have been daily six-hour power outages, a 48% decrease in  electricity consumption, and depletion of local electricity  production and supply systems. 

On April 23, Azerbaijan established an illegal checkpoint in the  Lachin Corridor, which we in previous statement have condemned and  reiterated that there should be free and open movement of people and  commerce on the Lachin corridor. Since June 15, Azerbaijan has  imposed a complete blockade on the Lachin Corridor, prohibiting the  transportation of any individuals or goods (including food, medicine,  hygiene items, and fuel) in both directions even by International  Committee of the Red Cross and Russian "peacekeepers". The suspension  of all humanitarian supplies since June 15, coupled with the  utilisation of limited domestic stocks, has resulted in a worsening  humanitarian situation, where food, medicine, fuel and humanitarian  goods will soon be fully depleted, leaving 120.000 indigenous peoples  isolated and at the brink of mass fatal consequences. 

The complete blockade of the Republic of Artsakh and its isolation  from the outside world, pursued with the intermediate goal of  forcibly subjugating the people of Artsakh, deepens the humanitarian  crisis and sets the stage for the transformation of Azerbaijan's  ongoing crimes against humanity into the crime of genocide. We call  on the World Community to now put hard pressure on Azerbaijan to stop  violating the provisions of the Trilateral Statement of November 9,  2020, the ruling of December 21, 2023, from the European Court of  Human Rights, the orders issued by International Court of Justice on  February 22 and July 6. 2023, calls by the UN High Commissioner for  Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,  Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, European Parliament, as  well as other international organizations and numerous states. We  also call on the parties to resume peace talks and refrain from  provocations and hostile actions along the border," Swedish  legislators said in a statement.