YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of Nagorno Karabakh Ruben Melikyan issued a new report on December 9, which presents the facts of Azerbaijani atrocities and gross violations of international rights during the Azerbaijani military operations in April.

“The report presents the definition of crimes, based on international rights, facts of atrocities are presented, issues of accountability and corresponding conclusions are drawn”, the Ombudsman said.

The report includes three war crimes – torture, execution and mutilation of bodies.

“The first crime is torture. It regards infliction of physical or physiological pain to the person. The next crime is called execution. This isn’t simple murder defined under international humanitarian right. It’s about civilians, as well as incapacitated servicemen. At our grounds, this is execution for being Armenian. This is based on our first report, where facts on Armenophobia are clearly stated, as result of official policy based on strong grounds, which led to consequences among the society.

The third war crime is mutilation of dead bodies. The first two crimes are clearly defined by the Geneva Conventions, a member of which is Azerbaijan, and the crime of mutilation of dead bodies is a manifestation of violation of international customary right and we draw a proposition that the rules of that right are applicable against Azerbaijan”, Melikyan said.

He said the report covers in detail the issues regarding the behavior of Azerbaijani forces against the total of 31 people or their bodies which were under long-term or short-term control of the Azerbaijani forces. Each of the deaths is presented with circumstances, circumstances of appearing under Azerbaijani control and circumstances of handing over their bodies to NKR, as well as the Azerbaijani atrocities committed against them. The facts are presented in three geographic directions: by 7 separate incidents.

“Atrocity facts were presented in three directions: Talish, where we are currently located, north-eastern or Seysulan, and southern or Lele Tepe direction. We discuss facts on each direction according to incidents. We 4 have incidents in the north, 1 in the direction of Seysulian and 2 in the southern directions”, the Ombudsman said.

Speaking on conclusions drawn based on the facts of the report, Melikyan said: “The civilians and servicemen who appeared in Azerbaijani control did not survive. Their murders have supposedly been executions for being Armenian. 27 of the 31 people who were under Azerbaijani control – around 90 percent – were tortured, were punished by death or their bodies have been mutilated. All three civilians who had appeared under Azerbaijani control have been gunned down and their bodies were mutilated. Three NKR soldiers were decapitated, two posthumously and one while alive. The most widespread military crime, which we have documented, is the mutilation of dead bodies, 21 of which regards unacceptable behavior. We have five cases of torture, which regard all three directions”.

The conclusions of the report are based on both NKR criminal procedure materials, NKR Ombudsman’s directly documented facts as well as materials published in Azerbaijani sources.

The report also covers issues of legal accountability of the perpetrators and their command, as well as Azerbaijan’s international-legal obligation on investigating the facts and holding the perpetrators accountable.

“Speaking on conclusions, I will mention that during the April war the Azerbaijani armed forces committed torture, execution and mutilation war crimes, and these were coordinated and organized in nature, because they were committed by all units of the Azerbaijani armed forces. We are raising this as an alarm for the international community. The presented violations should receive some response from international structures”, he said.