YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Bodies of the victims in Nagorno-Karabakh in the September 19-20 Azeri attack have signs of torture and mutilation, the Armenian Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan said on October 19.

She said that her preliminary report on the ill-treatment and torture was used in the ICJ by the Armenian government as evidence. The report found torture and mutilations on numerous bodies that were evacuated from NK to Armenia, including bodies of civilians, including women and children.

Speaking about the former NK officials who are now jailed in Azerbaijan, the Ombudsperson said that the rights of the ethnic Armenians of NK are being restricted with explicit violations of international legal standards. “First of all the presumption of innocence of these persons is violated on all levels in Azerbaijan, because they are branded as criminals from the very beginning, both on the state level and by specific individuals,” she said, adding that it is impossible to guarantee due process in Azerbaijan given the state-sanctioned Armenophobia there.