On July 29, 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, who was moving from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia with serious health problems, accompanied by the International Red Cross Organization for treatment, was abducted by the representatives of the border guard service of Azerbaijan near the illegal checkpoint located in the Lachin corridor and taken to an unknown direction without any reliable explanation. RA MFA made a statement on the subject.
“We consider it necessary to emphasize that the ICRC provides the parties with the lists of patients to be transferred in advance and carries out their transfer only after agreement. The release of a message full of false narratives and accusations immediately after the kidnapping by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan shows that this operation was planned in detail in advance. Moreover, the message contains an open threat to apply the same approach to other residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.
This practice of Azerbaijan is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. the arrest of a person under the protection of international humanitarian law and the ICRC cannot be described as a war crime. It also aims to completely block ICRC activities in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan continues to block the Lachin Corridor and generally prevents other humanitarian organizations from entering Nagorno-Karabakh.
It is noteworthy that this action of the Azerbaijani authorities is a direct implementation of the statement made by the country’s president on May 28: “The establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor will be a lesson for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that they will show up headlong” and the continuous threats, which the Armenian side has repeatedly warned about. to international partners, calling on them to condemn these and other similar statements. This action of Azerbaijan directly demonstrates that the alarms about ethnic cleansing, which have been raised by Armenia for a long time, reflect the seriousness of the existing mortal dangers.
Moreover, this practice once again demonstrates the bankruptcy of the arguments of the Azerbaijani side regarding the non-return of the Armenian prisoners of war, civilians who were illegally kept in Baku after the 44-day war, as well as the servicemen kidnapped from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia on May 26, and the implementation of fake trials against them.
This self-righteousness, carried out in parallel with the complete closure of the Lachine Corridor and the refusal to address the rights and security issues of the NK people, is aimed at terrorizing the NK population and once again casts serious doubt on the possibility of not only ensuring the minimal rights of the NK people, but also realizing the right to life in the absence of international involvement.
We consider the criminal action carried out by Azerbaijan today and the ongoing blocking of the Lachin Corridor as unacceptable and condemnable. We expect the united and clear steps of the international community, including the use of existing tools, aimed at restoring uninterrupted movement through the Lachin Corridor, ensuring the activities of international humanitarian organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh, and ensuring humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.”
