Մատչելիության հղումներ

Video Shows Execution Of Armenian Soldiers


A screenshot from a YouTube footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on September 13, 2022 shows Azerbaijanian servicemen crossing the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and approaching the Armenian positions.
A screenshot from a YouTube footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on September 13, 2022 shows Azerbaijanian servicemen crossing the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and approaching the Armenian positions.

Armenia expressed outrage on Sunday at a new video circulating on social media that appears to show Azerbaijani troops executing several Armenian soldiers during last month’s heavy fighting on the border between the two states.

The gruesome video was posted on Azerbaijani social media accounts early in the morning. The soldiers can be seen being shot dead at what looks like a frontline position.

“We can confirm the authenticity of the video,” Armenia’s human rights ombudswoman, Kristine Grigorian, said in a statement released later in the day.

Grigorian said experts from her office believe that it was shot on September 13 hours after Azerbaijani forces attacked and seized some of the Armenian army positions along the border. Their conclusion, she said, is based on the examination of the terrain, weather conditions, military uniforms and a conversation of Azerbaijani military personnel heard in the footage.

“The international community should strongly condemn and address this war crime and take appropriate measures to halt Azerbaijan’s aggression,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said, for his part.

“Armenia will use all available international mechanisms to ensure investigation and accountability,” Pashinian wrote on Twitter.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry likewise called for an international inquiry into “the appalling war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces in this and previous periods.”

“Another horrible video has emerged of Armenian prisoners of war apparently being executed,” tweeted Toivo Klaar, the European Union’s special envoy to the South Caucasus. “If this video is proven to be authentic, then this is a war crime that needs to be investigated and the perpetrators punished.”

There was no immediate official reaction to the video from the Azerbaijani government.

Late last month the authorities in Yerevan accused the Azerbaijani military of executing at least two other Armenian soldiers taken prisoner during the September 13-14 hostilities. One of them was a woman. Armenia’s top army general, Eduard Asrian, pointed to a social media video of her mutilated body circulated by Azerbaijani users.

XS
SM
MD
LG