Azerbaijani servicemen arrested for war crimes

Both sides have been accused of war crimes.

The Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case against four servicemen for war crimes.

Charges were filed against the servicemen under Articles 115.2 (torture, ill-treatment or inhuman treatment) and 245 (an insulting action on a grave or corpse) of the Criminal Code.

Rashad A. and Gardashkhan A., who were serving as junior sergeants in the "N" military unit of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, were charged with descrating the bodies of Armenian servicemen killed during hostilities in Zangilan region.

The investigation also revealed that soldiers of the "N" military unit of the Armed Forces Arzu H. and Umid A. committed insulting acts by destroying Armenian gravestones in the cemetery in the Madatli village of Khojavend region.


Amnesty International Caucasus applauds the move

"Good to see that Azerbaijan just arrested 4 servicemen from the horrendous war crime videos that Amnesty verified last week. We need to see full justice and accountability on all cases of war crimes from all sides of the conflict," wrote Levan Asatiani, Amnesty International Senior Campaigner wrote on his

Twitter

account.

On 11 December, Human Rights Watch released two reports on the Nagorno-Karabakh war, which alleged violations of international humanitarian law during the fighting.

One of the reports deals with the violations committed by Azerbaijan during the war, and the other with the violations committed by Armenia.

The organization said that both


Armenia


and


Azerbaijan


had committed war crimes which could be documented and verified using documents, interviews, satellite images, photos and videos.

On 10 December, Amnesty International released a

statement

that they had reviewed 22 videos depicting "extrajudicial executions, the mistreatment of prisoners of war and other captives, and desecration of the dead bodies of enemy soldiers".

The 44-day long war began on 27 September and ended with a peace agreement signed on 10 November between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The fighting resulted in the return of a vast area of territory previously under Armenian control to Azerbaijan. Russian peacemakers will remain in the areas still under ethnic Armenian control, as well as protect the Lachin corridor connecting said areas to mainland Armenia.

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