The Human Rights Defender of the Artsakh Republic Gegham Stepanyan issued a statement, which reads:

The Artsakh Republic Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan and Prosecutor General Gurgen Nersisyan visited Karmir Shuka and Taghavard communities of the Martuni region of the Republic of Artsakh to collect facts on the consequences of the shootings by the Azerbaijani side in the direction of the abovementioned communities on January 10, at around 2:30 pm.

According to the collected facts, in recent days the Azerbaijani side from the positions located near the peaceful settlements has fired more intensively in the direction of the civilian communities.

As a result of the January 10 shooting, a UAZ car, which was parked in the yard of a residential house, belonging to a civilian was set on fire. Three civilians were present at that moment in the house. The mentioned residential house is about 50 meters away from the community kindergarten. Due to the shooting and fire, the normal work of the kindergarten was disrupted as a result of the fear created among the staff and children attending the kindergarten. The children were evacuated immediately.

During the scene inspection by the law enforcement bodies, the bullets which penetrated into the trunk of the car were found. Remnants of rifle bullets were found in the yard of another house in the central part of the community.

On the same day, as a result of the Azerbaijani shootings, in one of the pastures belonging to the Taghavard community, the cattle of one of the residents were injured, and the herdsman was able to take shelter and reach home safely.

On January 10, the Azerbaijani side also fired intensively for about 15 minutes at four civilians carrying out agricultural work in the territory of Nakhichevanik community of the Askeran region of the Artsakh Republic, as a result of which no casualties were reported, but the agricultural equipment belonging to the villagers was damaged. The civilians were under fire for more than an hour and were taken out of the area only with the intervention of Russian peacekeepers.

The targeting of civilian communities by Azerbaijan is an encroachment on the rights of the civilian population, first of all against the right to life. The criminal actions of Azerbaijan aim to intimidate, create an atmosphere of fear and despair among the population of Artsakh.

Today’s incidents and numerous similar cases registered last year clearly show that under the veil of false peace-loving, the Azerbaijani side continues to advance the plans of eviction of Armenians from Artsakh, keeping in constant fear the civilian population of Artsakh, particularly in border areas.

For the security and proper protection of the rights of the people of Artsakh, the immediate removal of the Azerbaijani armed positions from the vicinity of the civilian communities of Artsakh remains crucial.