STRASBOURG, France (A.W.)— The Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Ruben Melikyan and Member of European Parliament Frank Engel (Luxembourg) held a joint press conference on Feb. 14, during which the ombudsman presented the results of his report on the human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan during the Four-Day War in April 2016.
The Artsakh Ombudsman called for the European human rights structures to actively study the cases of human rights violations that took place during the Azerbaijani attacks.
Melikyan stressed that several cases of Azerbaijani human rights violations were recorded, especially in the village of Talish. “This is an alarming situation for the human rights community. [We] cannot provide independent reports due to the lack of engagement of Europe in Artsakh,” Melikyan said.
The need for international observers to be present during such incidents in order to ensure that the rights of the local population are protected was also discussed during the press conference.
Melikyan also mentioned that he had a chance to speak European Parliamentarians about the arrest of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin and his extradition to Azerbaijan. He called it an attempt “to silence the free speech and obstruct the visits to Artsakh.”
The Ombudsman’s full report can be read here: http://www.ombudsnkr.am/en/docs/Report_PUBLIC.pdf