Violation of International Humanitarian Law: Foreign Ministry on the Abduction of a 68-Year-Old Man from Artsakh

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned about the abduction of a 68-year-old man by Azerbaijan. This was reported on Twitter by the Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ani Badalyan.

“We are alarmed by reports that a 68-year-old medical patient, who was being transferred from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia under the escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross, has been abducted at an illegally established checkpoint by the Azerbaijani border service. The abduction of a person under international humanitarian protection is a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” emphasized the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, the State Minister of Artsakh, Gurgen Nersisyan, reported that Azerbaijan had today detained one of the citizens being transferred for medical treatment to Armenia through the Red Cross and moved him to another location.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan stated that 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan from Artsakh has been arrested. He is accused of allegedly creating a criminal group that participated in crimes against the residents of the village of Meshali in the Khojaly district on December 21, 1991.

It is noteworthy that on December 12, 2022, a group of Azerbaijanis in civilian clothes closed the Stepanakert-Goris highway connecting Artsakh to Armenia under environmental pretexts, from which they withdrew on April 28, as on April 23, Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the Lachin road, taking complete control of it. Artsakh has also been deprived of gas and electricity supplies from Armenia.

On July 26, 19 trucks laden with around 400 tons of essential goods set off from Yerevan to Artsakh, which has been under blockade for more than 225 days. The trucks reached Kornidzor and halted, awaiting a response from the Russian peacekeepers to continue through the road blocked by Azerbaijan at the Lachin corridor.