Azerbaijani actions aiming at deepening humanitarian disaster in Artsakh, causing 20 casualties, 93 wounded and over 5800 material losses

Within the framework of the fact-finding mission, launched by the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Artsakh, a thorough research and analysis of the cases of criminal encroachments, committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against the civilian population of Artsakh, for the 27.09.2020-07.10.2020 time period, have been conducted. The results are presented below:

As of October 7, a total of 20 civilians have been killed - A little girl, 7 women and 12 men. The child, five women and 4 men were killed in the yard of their houses, the others - in public places of different settlements (central square, residential district). Deaths were recorded in Stepanakert (7 persons), Martuni (6 persons), Hadrut (1 person), Martakert (3 persons), in the village of Alashan (1 person), in the vicinity of the village of Mets Shen of the Martakert region (1 person) and in Aygestan village (1 person).

A total of about 93 people were wounded, of which 73 received serious injuries. 60 of them are male and 13 are female citizens.

37 of the wounded were injured in the immediate result of a shell blast at or near their houses, 6 – as a result of targeting and shelling the passenger car while being transported to a relatively safe place, 7 – as a result of  targeting the building of the State Emergency Service, which carries out humanitarian functions, and 23 – as a result of targeting other public places.

The injuries mostly involve upper and lower limb and facial fractures, in the form of shrapnel wounds.

In Stepanakert and adjacent to it places 36 civilians were wounded, in the town of Hadrut in Hadrut region – 3, in Taghaser village – 3, in Vardashat – 1, in Martuni regional center of Martuni region – 13, in Spitak Shen – 1, in Martakert town of Martakert region – 2, in the visinity of Maghavuz community – 6, in Nerkin Horatagh – 2, in Alashan – 3, in Mataghis – 1, in karvachar town of Shahumyan region – 2 persons.

Since September 27, the Azerbaijani armed forces have targeted more than 100 civilian settlements in the Republic of Artsakh. As a result, numerous infrastructure, public and private property damages have been recorded. In particular, based on preliminary data, more than 4600 immovable private property (residential houses, shops, etc.), more than 430 cars, about 750 infrastructural, public and industrial facilities were seriously damaged.

We are reporting that today and yesterday Azerbaijan, using heavy missiles, bombarded civilian infrastructure and residential buildings of the capital Stepanakert of the Artsakh Republic. As a result, yesterday 4 victims and 10 wounded have beem initially recorded among the civilians. The information on the today’s strikes is being clarified.

We remind that the data are not final; the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman continues the fact-finding mission and the results will be updated.

The Ombudsman stresses also that the casualties and injuries have been recorded because of the use by Azerbaijan prohibited weaponry and methods, and in recent days Azerbaijan has started to use heavy and wide-range missiles and aircraft against civilian population, some of which are of cluster munition type.

Moreover, in the last 6 days, in Stepanakert and a number of other populated areas, the Azerbaijani armed forces have deliberately and intentionally targeted vital infrastructure, which is a serious war crime that deepens the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

The Ombudsman calls upon the international community to make relevant measures to prevent humanitarian disaster in Artsakh and to provide the population with humanitarian assistance.