Lawyer: By shelling civilians Armenian armed forces commit unimaginable war crimes

By Trend

By committing recent provocation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, Armenia again grossly violated international conventions, Member of the Presidium of Azerbaijani Bar Association, Lawyer Vugar Babayev told Trend.

According to him, by shelling civilians, Armenian armed forces commit unimaginable war crimes.

“The Armenian soldiers even shelled the Tovuz district hospital,” he said.

“The Armenian leadership should be called criminals, since it committed almost all the war crimes stipulated by the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan on Azerbaijani land. Some of them are violation of international humanitarian law, violation of laws and customs of warfare, etc. Giving a direct order to attack civilians is a particularly serious war crime.”

“At the same time, the Armenian side has violated and continues to violate international conventions, the supporters of which are both Azerbaijan and Armenia itself. The Tovuz District Hospital is a humanitarian facility that is directly protected by the Geneva Convention. The shelling of this object is a ground for introducing the strictest international sanctions against Armenia.”

“By committing the war crimes, Armenia also grossly violated and continues to violate the requirements of the Hague 1907 Convention on the Laws and Customs of the Land War, Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949," Babayev said.

The lawyer noted that the policy of the Armenian state is mainly to implement its illegal claims through terror and committing war crimes.

“The events which recently took place on the border showed that the people represented in the current Armenia leadership, just like their predecessors, have criminal and terrorist mentality. As an example the facts can be mentioned that orders to commit serious crimes such as the occupation of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly, violence against the civilian population, appropriation of their property, cruel treatment of prisoners of war, the perpetration of terrorist acts on the territory of Azerbaijan, came from the leadership of Armenia,” he said.

“During the preliminary investigation conducted on criminal cases instituted for the above crimes, these facts were fully proved. I’m sure that the persons who have committed these heavy crimes will soon answer before the world community," Babayev stressed.