Foreigners Who Studied Azykh Wanted.

Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against scientists from Armenia, Spain and the UK, who carried out field research in the Azykh cave in the occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A criminal case under various provisions of the Criminal Code has been filed in connection with the archaeological excavations made by the Institute of Molecular Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Levon Episkopyan, a researcher of the National Research Institute of Natural Science of Spain Yolanda Fernandez Halva, Director of the Azykh project of the British Museum Blanford Tania King and a scientist of the London Museum of Natural History Peter Andrew since 2002 in the cave Azykh, the Prosecutor General Office of Azerbaijan stated.

With respect to Levon Episkopyan, Yolanda Fernandez Halva, Tanya King and Peter Andrew a preventive measure in the form of arrest is announced and they have been declared internationally wanted. The relevant inquiry is aimed at Interpol, said the supervisory authority.

The National Museum of Natural History, Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, University of Galway Great Britain and the London branch of the organization Armenian General Benevolent Union are accused by Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office of providing "financial and other support to the excavations" and compliance of the said activities with the legislation of Azerbaijan and the norms of international humanitarian law is examined.

Official Baku has previously called for the British and Spanish archeologists not to conduct excavations in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2008, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan stated that the ongoing excavations in the Azykh cave related to the Paleolithic period are illegal and contrary to the Hague Convention "On the Preservation of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict," the European Convention "On protection of archaeological value," UNESCO Convention " On the protection of the World cultural and natural heritage ". In November 2016, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry put members of the group of archaeologists who carried out excavations in the cave Azykh in the "black list".

The Azykh cave is a complex of six caves near the village Azykh of the Khojavend region in Azerbaijan. It has the oldest evidence of human habitation on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, referring to the early Paleolithic. -06d--