On February 14, at the initiative of Armenian General Benevolent Union Europe Chapter, Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Ruben Melikyan and Member of the European Parliament Frank Engel submitted a report on the violations of human rights committed during the Four-Day Artsakh War in Strasbourg. This was the second report following the tragic events that took place in April of last year.

“The information stated in the report is panicking for the international community, particularly from the perspective of human rights protection. The regular and grave breaches of international humanitarian law committed by Azerbaijani troops in April 2016 still require correct and adequate answers from reputable international law-defense organizations and are a serious matter of concern for the whole international community,” the preface of the report reads. In the report, Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan presents the types of crimes that Azerbaijan committed during the Four-Day Artsakh War in April that are prohibited by international humanitarian law and are considered a grave breach of international law. The conclusion of the report states that the military crimes that the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan committed during the Four-Day War were previously planned and were regular.

Assessing the importance of the event in an interview with 168.am, Communication Representative of the Armenian National Committee of Europe Bedo Demirdjian first informed that this was not the first time that the Ombudsman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was in Europe and added that Ruben Melikyan will be giving a press conference devoted to the topic in Brussels on February 16^th.

“In June 2016, we invited Ruben Melikyan to Brussels. The first report published by the Ombudsman after the Four-Day Artsakh War was presented in Brussels, after which Melikyan had meetings with representatives of political circles, European MPs, members of the federal and regional parliaments of Belgium and non-governmental organizations,” Demirdjian informed.

According to Demirdjian, after the extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin, the submission of Melikyan’s report to the European Parliament is quite a significant event. “After the case of Lapshin, the news conference during which Ruben Melikyan submitted the second report on Azerbaijan’s military crimes to the European Parliament itself has many implications since it is bringing Artsakh out of Azerbaijan’s blockade in contrast to Azerbaijan’s policy.

The goal and essence of Lapshin’s case was to create an atmosphere of fear among foreigners wishing to visit Artsakh, but the Ombudsman of Artsakh is in the European Parliament and is presenting Azerbaijan’s military crimes and stating that Azerbaijan’s claims are groundless,” Bedo Demirdjian said.