Artsakh Republic Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan wrote on his Facebook page:

Human Rights Defenders of Artsakh and Armenia published an Extraordinary Report on Targeting Journalists by Azerbaijan: ____________________________________________

On December 18, the Human Rights Defenders of Artsakh and Armenia published a joint special report on Azeri attacks on journalists covering the hostilities in Artsakh.

In parallel with the targeting of the civilian population of Artsakh’s infrastructure by Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani armed forces for a few times targeted journalists working in Artsakh and caused 7 heavy injuries among them (7 foreign and 2 Armenian) and a death of a person accompanying journalists. The Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh has monitored the developments since the onset of the hostilities. Targeted nature of the shelling, including those against journalists, were also proven by the facts that the journalists wore a special uniform and distinctive signs, as well as, mostly with cameras. The journalistic cars that came under the shelling also had the “PRESS” distinctive sign. Moreover, the journalists were targeted when they were carrying out their professional activities in civilian settlements, and not in the hotspots of hostilities. In addition, there is some evidence that Azeri reconnaissance UAVs flew to the scene before the strikes, which meant that the journalists were fully visible and distinct to the Azerbaijani armed forces.

At the same time, in order to obstruct the professional work of journalists in Artsakh to cover the war, Azerbaijan has prosecuted the inclusion of some foreign journalists working in Artsakh in their lists. Moreover, throughout the war, the Azerbaijani authorities restricted the independent activities of international journalists in the territory of Azerbaijan, controlling their movement and creating artificial obstacles for them.

Analyzing all the circumstances of targeting the journalists, as well as other relevant actions and statements of the Azerbaijani side, it is obvious that the Azerbaijani authorities had a criminal intention to completely isolate Artsakh from international information flows and independent sources to hide large-scale and deliberate war crimes against the Artsakh people.

Since the beginning (27 September, 2020) by the end (10 November, 2020) of the hostilities, over 390 foreign journalists from over 190 media as well as hundreds of Armenian journalists have flown into Artsakh to cover the war and the consequent developments due to the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression.

The flow of journalists to Artsakh has been considerably increased following the Azerbaijani authorities’ decision to limit the arrival of journalists from several countries, to impose strict restrictions on the independent work of the journalists.

Besides, the Azerbaijani authorities have publically stated that they cannot ensure the safety of journalists covering the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that journalist should request permission from the Azerbaijani authorities before entering Nagorno-Karabakh. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh stated that it has information about special groups that have been formed by Azerbaijan to monitor the movement and activities of foreign journalists in Artsakh, to deliver target attacks.”

The details of the report can be found here.”