The Human Rights Defender receives alarming complains from the residents of Movses and several other villages of Tavush region

The Human Rights Defender receives alarming complains from the residents of Movses and several other villages of Tavush region, the Republic of Armenia that on July 12, at about 11 pm, the Azerbaijani armed forces started shelling in the direction of Tavush region. The Ombudsman's Office received similar alarming calls during the day of July 12.

According to the residents of Movses village, shootings from the Azerbaijani side are of very close distance towards the village. According to the civilian population, shootings cause a real danger for the civilian settlements, their health, life and their property.

Right after the complaints, the Human Rights Defender recorded the public official statement of the Armenian Ministry of Defense that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces started shelling towards the Armenian side. In response to the urgent request of the Armenian Human Rights Defender, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia confirmed that the shelling is carried out in the immediate vicinity of the peaceful settlements of the Armenian Tavush region and there is a real danger for the civilian settlements. The Human Rights Defender is in direct contact with the residents of the border villages and the community administrative bodies.

The Human Rights Defender, as an independent national human rights institution and guided exclusively by human rights principles, strongly condemns the shelling and that it is carried out in the immediate vicinity of peaceful settlements of the Republic of Armenia, with real danger for civilian population, their health and life, as well as their property. This is even more condemnable during the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

The Human Rights Defender brings the mentioned facts to the attention of the international human rights organizations, and informs on their initiation of starting targeted monitoring activities, the results of which will be summarized and sent to international human rights community.