Azerbaijani human rights defenders presented a report on the use of prohibited weapons by the Armenian Armed Forces against the civilian population

Baku / 04.11.20 / Turan: "Civilians under fire", a report under this title was prepared by the Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGPZOA) on the consequences of shelling by the Armenian Armed Forces of settlements of Azerbaijan near the front line and far from it from September 27 to October 30. The study points to the shelling of the population from banned ballistic missiles, MLRS and cluster bombs. The report was compiled by the head of the Society for the Protection of Women's Rights named after Dilara Aliyeva Novella Jafaroglu, the head of the Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law Saida Gojamanli, the head of the Azerbaijan branch of the International Human Rights Organization Saadat Bananyarli, Chair of the Committee for Democracy and Human Rights Chingiz Ganizadeh,

Head of the Society for Humanitarian Research Avaz Hasanov, Director of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform Dilara Efendiyeva, Secretary of the Moscow State Pedagogical University Yegana Tarverdiyeva.

The 29-page report details in detail the facts of shelling of settlements in Azerbaijan, their destructive consequences and assesses this from the point of view of international law. One of the regions most affected by the shelling is Tartar with its center Tartar.  At the same time, the cities for internally displaced persons located in the Shikharkh settlement of the city of Terter, where 1170 internally displaced persons from the Kelbajar, Aghdam, Lachin, Jebrail and Shusha regions are located, were subjected to intensive shelling.

Because of the shelling, three civilians were killed here, 34 multi-storey residential buildings, a music school, a secondary school, and administrative buildings were seriously damaged. Thirty-six villages of the region were also subjected to shelling. As a result of artillery and rocket attacks, 118 houses were destroyed, damage was caused to 646 private houses and 64 multi-storey buildings, 19 social facilities, 44 shopping centers and 18 administrative buildings. In total, 14 thousand shells fell on 36 settlements of the region. The report also draws attention to the shelling of civilians in settlements, including large cities located far from the front. In particular, on October 11, a large industrial center, the city of Mingachevir, was shelled. In this city, located at a distance of 100 km. from the front line there are two large power plants and a reservoir.

Most of the missiles were defused by Azerbaijan's air defense forces. Nevertheless, several rockets fell into the yard of the Azerbaijan Thermal Power Plant, but did not explode. On October 18, the Khizi region, 300 km away, was fired upon with ballistic missiles from the front and only 60 km. north of Baku.

Although the air defense of Azerbaijan defused the missiles in the air, nevertheless, part of their explosive contents were scattered only 250 meters from the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline, in its section passing through the village of Sitalchay. On October 22, three missile strikes were made in the direction of the Siyazan region. They were shot down by air defense, but five people were wounded by shrapnel, damage to property and crops was caused. On the same day, because of two missile strikes on the Gabala region, 150 km away from the front, five houses in the village of Mamayly were damaged and a teenager was wounded. The target of the attacks was the Oguz-Baku water pipeline.

The city of Barda was subjected to powerful attacks. On October 5, 26 and 28, the city of Barda and the village of Garayusifli in this region were subjected to attacks from the Smerch MLRS twice. In total, 27 people were killed, including 8 women and 1 child, 86 were injured. International human rights organizations Human Rights Watc and Amnesty International have confirmed the use of cluster bombs on October 28 in the shelling of Barda. As a result of ballistic missile attacks from the "Scud" complex on the country's second largest city, Ganja, on October 4, 11 and 17, 26 people, including 10 women and 6 children, were killed. Another 142 people, including 57 women, 32 children were injured. The authors of the report note that shelling of settlements located far from settlements is a war crime.

In addition, Armenia, in violation of paragraph 3 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, by shelling the indicated settlements with prohibited ammunition violated its norms and committed crimes against humanity. The authors qualified the following crimes of the Armenian side against the civilian population: At various times, 13 cities located to the side of the front were fired upon from the Smerch and Grad MLRS. Major damage was caused to the city of Terter and 36 villages of the region. Armenia has targeted pipelines that play an important role in Europe's energy security.  Schools, hospitals and other social facilities were chosen as the target. 87 civilians were killed, including 18 women and 14 children, another 400 people were injured, including 69 women, 32 children. The authors made a number of recommendations to local and international organizations. In particular, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs were recommended to prepare a report on the motives of Armenia's war crimes. She must document these crimes together with the Azerbaijani authorities. UN institutions should expand cooperation with Azerbaijan in investigating the consequences of the shelling, which resulted in civilian casualties and damage. International human rights organizations and think tanks should send missions to investigate crimes against civilians. NGOs and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan should actively contribute to the investigation of crimes against civilians. — 06D-