TODAY.AZ / Politics

Crime without statute of limitations: five years since tragedy of Barda

28 October 2025 [16:16] - TODAY.AZ
Five years have passed since the barbaric shelling of the city of Barda by the Armenian Armed Forces during the Second Karabakh War.
During the Second Karabakh War, Barda district was subjected to rocket and artillery attacks three times - on October 5, 27 and 28. As a result, 29 people became martyrs, 112 were injured, and significant damage was caused to vehicles and civilian infrastructure.
The worst blow to the Bard occurred on the morning of October 28, 2020.
The day before, the Barda village of Garayusifli, located outside the frontline zone, was shelled with Smerch missiles. As a result, 5 people were killed, including a 7-year-old girl, and 13 people were injured.
But the most terrible blow awaited the Bardinians the next day.
On October 28, the Barda regional center was subjected to a rocket attack from the Smerch MLRS. The Armenian side used cluster munitions prohibited by international law against a peaceful city located far from the front line. The strikes were carried out in the city center, in places of the greatest concentration of people. As a result of the missile strike, 21 people were killed and more than 70 were injured. Serious damage was caused to the city's civilian infrastructure, including the Bardinsk Medical and Diagnostic Center and the regional office of the State Migration Service.
The war crime committed by Armenia was so undeniable that even Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch could not find excuses for it, placing all responsibility on Armenia. According to Amnesty International, the attack used MLRS "Smerch" with a 9M55K projectile containing a 9N235 cluster warhead with 72 damaging elements. The separatists claimed responsibility, but later claimed that they were following orders from Yerevan.
At the time of the shelling, a group of reporters from the New York Times newspaper was in the city, which at that moment was just passing along the central street of Barda. However, a photo report about the incident was published only three years later. The New York Times photographer Ivor Prickett, known for his photo reports from conflict zones, explained the delay on his Instagram page, where he posted the photo.
Ivar wrote that he refrained from publishing the report because he received a lot of insults. "I was just documenting the story that happened on the Azerbaijani side. But it was enough to cause endless hatred from online trolls. The campaign against me went so far as to try to blacken my name in The New York Times, claiming that I allegedly faked photos of the missile attack on Barda, which killed more than 20 people. In any case, they didn't succeed." The photographer of The New York Times spoke about his experiences during the shelling: "In fact, me, my colleague Carlotta Gall and our team were lucky to come out of that attack in Barda unscathed. We have almost entered the center of the cluster bomb attack. Slide 2 is a short excerpt from a video shot by my brave translator Rovlan, as we hid behind a wall surrounded by explosions. It was probably one of the scariest moments I've ever experienced, partly because we had virtually no cover. I am not a religious person, but I remember very well how I prayed to an unknown god that day. We somehow managed to survive the hail of bombs and immediately get to work documenting the aftermath."
To some extent, the circles that forced the American photojournalist to put the scary photos "on the table" for three years managed to achieve their goals. The Bards in the West knew nothing about the tragedy, and soon the footage and videos available in the media and social networks began to be used as a resource for pro-Armenian propaganda. So, in October 2023, Vivek Ramaswamy, who wanted to become president of the United States and fought for Armenian votes, accompanied his hysterical accusations against Azerbaijan with footage of the destruction in Ganja and video of the shelling of Barda in Tucker Carlson's program. Against the background of these photos and videos, he talked about the "crimes" of Azerbaijanis against Armenians and claimed that "many atrocities are still not covered in the Western press."
Ivor Prickett's photo essay appeared only in December and, unfortunately, did not get into the leading American media.
After Ramaswamy's vile lies, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during a meeting in Baku with participants of the 53rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS member states: "Just yesterday, I was introduced to a video clip where the US presidential candidate makes accusations against Azerbaijan and shows footage of the Armenian rocket attack on the city of Ganja. Well, it's impossible to even imagine stooping to falsification and cynicism to such an extent. During the Second Karabakh War, Armenia fired long-range artillery, including ballistic missiles, at our cities located hundreds of kilometers from the conflict zone, and more than a hundred civilians, including children, were killed. So this so-called candidate, accusing Azerbaijan, shows footage of the Armenian attack on Ganja and Barda. Well, how can you talk to these people, what can you explain to them? They don't want to hear anything. They have their own installations, which they have been given from the center and according to which they act."
On November 7, the day before the liberation of Shushi, the Barda district was again subjected to a rocket attack. An Armenian rocket fired at the village of Airidzha killed a 16-year-old boy who was playing in a field with other children. The Armenian Armed Forces used a Smerch MLRS projectile with a 9M528 high-explosive fragmentation warhead. Even Human Rights Watch has acknowledged the absence of any military installations near the village.
On October 29, 2020, the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case on the fact of rocket attacks on Barda under articles 120.2.1 (premeditated murder committed by an organized group or criminal community), 120.2.4 (premeditated murder committed with extreme cruelty or in a generally dangerous manner), 120.2.12 (premeditated murder motivated by national, racial, religious hatred or enmity), 100.2 (waging aggressive war) and other articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
Arayik Harutyunyan, the former leader of the separatist regime, has been charged with attacks on Ganja and Barda. It should be recalled that after another strike on the second largest city of Azerbaijan, Harutyunyan proudly stated that the shelling was carried out on his personal orders. However, at the trial in Baku, already as a defendant, he disavowed previous statements and said that such orders had been given to him from the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, but he could not disobey...
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/263015.html

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