Moskalenko: murders in Karabakh are war crimes or crimes against humanity

The killings of civilians in the village of Talysh in the course of exacerbation of the Karabakh conflict were committed with special cruelty, the eyewitnesses said. The International Court of Justice will have problems in classifying these crimes as war crimes or crimes against humanity, said Karina Moskalenko, a well-known Russian lawyer.

According to the data of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), as of April 7, the losses of the NKR's Defence Army amounted to 36 servicemen. The Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has clarified that as of April 8, 44 servicemen of the NKR's Defence Army had perished. Azerbaijan confirmed the death of 31 of its servicemen.

Those killed could not evacuate, because when the bulk of the population were crossing the border of the community, the village was already invaded by Azerbaijani militaries, Vilen Petrosyan, the head of the community of Talysh, told the "Caucasian Knot".

Edik Bagdasaryan, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian edition "Hetq.am" (Trace), said that two days before, reporters found a woman with children, who were hiding in the basement.

All the houses of the Talysh community have been re-examined; no people have been found there, said an employee of the administration of the Martakert District.

According to the NKR's Defence Army, during the warfare, on April 1-5, three civilians from Talysh and a 12-year-old boy from the Martuni District perished.

Complaints about the facts of violence against civilians during the escalation of the conflict are already being prepared for delivery to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said Karina Moskalenko, the head of the International Protection Centre.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.