YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. The Investigative Committee of Armenia has launched criminal proceedings with regard to the facts of committing genocide by the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan.

“Based on the reports received from a group of citizens on the case of committal of genocide through the illegal blockade by Azerbaijanis through fake environmental protesters of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia - the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor from December 12, 2022, then the illegal establishment of the checkpoint on April 23, 2023, on the Hakari Bridge in the Berdzor Corridor, this way clearly institutionalizing its criminal behavior, the deliberate resort to provocation on the Hakari bridge on June 15, 2023 and the complete blockade of all humanitarian passenger transportation and cargo transportation in both directions through the Corridor, the disruption of the scheduled transfers of medical patients from Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the regular disruption from December 2022, and from March 2023 - complete cut off the supply of gas from Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh, and electricity from January 2023, as well as in connection with the information published in the mass media on September 19, 2023 regarding the complete or partial physical destruction, causing serious damage to health, and creating living conditions aimed at it,  of the civilian population of Nagorno Karabakh, kept under siege from December 12, 2022, by the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the grounds of their national, ethnic, racial, religious affiliation, criminal proceedings have been initiated and a preliminary investigation is being carried out in the RA Investigative Committee based on Article 133, part 1 of the RA Criminal Code – crime of genocide,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.