Azerbaijan urges European Commissioner to express opinion over Armenian crimes

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan has called on the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe to express an opinion over the crimes committed by Armenia towards Azerbaijan during the recent events on the contact line of troops.

Ganira Pashayeva, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, appealed to Nils Muiznieks as part of a spring session held in Strasbourg on April 18.

"During the recent developments on the front line, Azerbaijan, respecting international law and humanitarian norms, exchanged dead bodies of the soldiers,” Pashayeva said. “However, we were terrified when we saw that the Armenian troops had committed inhuman acts over the returned corpses. We have many photos proving these crimes.”

Muiznieks, in turn, expressed his concern over the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and above-mentioned facts of the human rights violations.

“This is a very serious matter and it is difficult to comment on it because there were very few international observers at the time of these events. Nevertheless, I understand your concern very well, and keep in touch with all the parties to resolve this issue,” the Commissioner said.

Muiznieks further urged parties to the conflict to observe a humanitarian law.

"I urge the parties to put an end to the tense situation, to avoid violence and to cooperate closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as to observe humanitarian law. The more time passes, the more difficult it becomes to investigate these questions,” he concluded.

After Armenia breached the fragile ceasefire on April 2, the international community voiced concern over the situation and urged the parties to the conflict to strictly observe the truce.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.