Armenia’s armed forces continue to commit crimes against civilian population of Azerbaijan

1. On 17 October 2020 around 01:00 a.m. at night, Armenia’s armed forces, which continue to commit crimes against peace and humanity and acts of terrorism frequently using military provocation to kill civilian population of Azerbaijan, launched ballistic missile attack from the territory of Armenia on the densely populated areas of the city of Ganja, located 100 km far beyond the conflict zone. 

2. It is the fifth time that the military of Armenia shelled Ganja city using internationally prohibited weapons, three out which hit heavily populated areas and caused extensive casualties. Consequently, Armenia’s another military attack against the row level of houses in Ganja caused not only massive loss of human lives and injuries to civilians, but also left civilians extensive trauma and psychological damage. 

3. The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva has established a Fact-Finding Mission on Ganja to investigate on the spot the abovenoted facts of serious violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms of a civilian population. This is the Ombudsman’s Third Report of the Fact-Finding Mission on Ganja, where war crimes have been committed. 

4. The Report has been prepared based on the findings, amassed on the spot by the Ombudsman’s Fact-Finding Mission on Ganja and covers the period from 17 to 18 October 2020.

This image shows the statistical data on civilian casualties caused by the ballistic missile attack of the Armenian military on Ganja city on 17 October 2020.

II. Brief Information about city of Ganja attacked by Armenian armed forces

5. Ganja city, dated back to the fifth century BC, played an important role in the history of Azerbaijan at various times. It is located at an altitude of 400-450 meters above sea level in the west of Azerbaijan, 375 km west of the capital city Baku, and in the northeastern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus on the Ganja-Gazakh plain in the Kur-Araz lowland.

6. One of the first territories of human civilization was the historical territory of Ganja, an integral part of Azerbaijan. As a result of scientific and archeological researches, it has been recognized that Ganja is the cradle of science and culture not only in Azerbaijan, but in the East as a whole.

7. In terms of population (as of January 1, 2019, the population of Ganja - 334.0 thousand people, and the population density was 3036 people per 1 km2) is the second largest and industrial city in the country, after Baku and Sumgayit. Most of the total industrial output falls on non-ferrous metallurgy, light and food industries, electronics and instrumentation.

8. Ganja, the second largest city of Azerbaijan with a long history, is located 100 km far beyond the conflict zone. 

9. Ganja city has been for the third time subjected to intentional attack by prohibited tactical ballistic SCUD/Elbrus missile with operational status from the territory of Armenia that caused excessive loss of life and damage. Around the missile-affected civilian areas there were not any military to target, which once more, approves that this military provocation is an act of terrorism directed at civilians. 

 

III. Information on the ballistic missile attack on Ganja city from the territory of Armenia causing civilian casualties for the third time 

10. Armenia continues its war crimes, crimes against humanity and terror acts resulted in deliberate and indiscriminate killing of peaceful citizens, caused injuries to civilians and damage to civilian settlements are grave violations of international law as a part of its aggressive and detestable policy.

11. Thus, the facts of excessive human casualties, including killing of 14 (including 4 men, 5 women and 5 children) and the badly injured of 25 persons (including 25 men, 23 women, and 9 children) as a result of fires at the central part of Ganja city from Armenia using ballistic missiles, which were prohibited by treaty, 1 on 17 October 2020 around 01:00 a.m. at night time, once more clearly evidence that. 

12. Simultaneously, the damage to row level of houses and other civilian objects being affected by the effects of explosive weapons in populated areas2 caused widespread damage to civilians.3 For that reason, 20 private house were totally destroyed, and many houses, civilian objects around, including 4 kindergartens, one secondary school and a child clinic were damaged. 

13. Hence, Armenia has blatantly breached the UN Charter, general norms and principles of international law, international law of war, particularly 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, as well as the agreement on humanitarian ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, proclaimed on 10 October 2020, at 12:00 p.m. 

14. The Ombudsman of Azerbaijan has issued another Statement of protest to call international community and NHRIs to demand from Armenia to put an end to its criminal acts and to take decisive and binding decisions that establish international legal responsibility. The Statement in question was addressed to the UN Secretary-General, UN Security Council, UN OHCHR, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNICEF, UNESCO, EU, CoE, OSCE, IOI, EOI, AOA, OIC and its Ombudsman Association in all Member States, Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of OIC, ENOC, International Peace Bureau, various Ombudsman institutions and the NHRIs4 .

15. The Ombudsman once again urged the international community to take prompt actions to prevent this war crime and terror acts as per international law while spreading the information about the ballistic missile attack on populated areas of Ganja city from the territory of Armenia through social networking such as Twitter5 , Facebook6 , and media outlets. 

IV. The Third Fact-Finding Mission of the Ombudsman on Ganja city  

16. The Human Rights Commissioner of Azerbaijan carried out the third fact-finding mission to Ganja city, where there have been many casualties among the civilian population and extensive damage caused by the Armenia’s military using forbidden arms. 17. The objective of the fact-finding mission on Ganja was to investigate the factual evidences of serious human rights violations regarding massive human loss or superfluous injury or damage to civilians caused by the commitment of the Armenian armed forces another war crime and the terror act in the City on the same day7 as well as to evaluate the damage to civilians under the international law in a view to draw the attention of international community to this matter. 

18. Within the fact-finding mission carried out to Ganja city, the Mission of the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan established that yet another deliberate and indiscriminate bombardment of a civilian-populated residential areas by the Armenia’s armed forces caused loss of lives and injuries of children, women and the aged persons and serious damage to private houses and other civilian objects. Thus, during the preliminary investigations, it was found that on 17 October, 12 persons, including 3 children were killed, 52 civilians were injured, and 2 children went missing. In parallel many civilian infrastructure were badly affected from the attack.8 However, during the search and rescue operations continued also on 18 October 2020 in the area of the residential buildings destroyed as a result of Armenian terror act, the corpses of those two missing children have been pulled out from the rubble. So, the number of victims – persons killed on 17 October in Ganja became 14, including five children and five women, and 57 injured, including 9 children and 23 women. 

19. The Ombudsman visited also the relatives of the killed persons, the injured and met with the residents who suffered as victims of this attack and made investigations in the area of the destroyed residential row level houses and other infrastructure. The Ombudsman also visited a child who became orphan as her parents buried under the beneath of the rubble. All necessary measures to eliminate the emerging challenges have been taken on the spot jointly with the competent bodies. 9 

20. The Mission has also established that Armenia using special missile system from its territory keeps going to direct attacks at civilian population of Azerbaijan and commits war crimes and crimes against humanity and peace, that is, it blatantly breaches the binding international law. 10 

The following images demonstrate the damage caused by the ballistic attack on Ganja city by the Armenian military launched from the territory of Armenia:   

Photos from the meeting with the residents, who became victims of the Armenia’s ballistic attack and the media on mission:

Photos from the Ombudsman’s visits to the relatives of the killed persons, the injured ones and the city residents, who became victims of the ballistic attack as well as the children, who became orphan

The missing parents of 3-year-old Khadija, 26-year-old Zuleyha Shahbazli (mother) and 29- year-old Royal Shahbazli (father) and her sister Medina (1 year and 4 months), who were pulled out from the rubble of one of the houses destroyed by the ballistic attack by Armenian armed forces in Ganja, died. The parents of Khadija and her little sister were not alive anymore and she was not even aware of that…

As a result of this SCUD missile attack, 15-year-old Asgarova Nigar Azer kyzy (b.2005) were killed with also five members of her family. Due to this grave breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter - the Committee) should initiate a special procedure in this regard.

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