Khtsaberd enclave

 historical layer / disappeared object  Add category

Khtsaberd enclave is a part of the Hadrut and Shushi regions, that at the 9 November 2020 (time of stop of Nagorno Karabakh second war) remained under Armenian control. According to Point 1 of 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement: "The Parties of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict shall stay at the positions they occupy." Ministry of Defense of Armenia, on December 12 reported that after the signing of the ceasefire on 09/11/2020, the Azerbaijani military, in violation of agreements, resumed the offensive in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh in the area of ​​the villages of Khtsabert (Chailakkala) and Hintager (Kohnetaglar). The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the violation of the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh since the end of hostilities and the beginning of the Russian peacekeeping operation in the region. After the skirmish, Russian peacekeepers arrived in the villages of Khtsabert and Khintaglar, and the mutual fire was stopped. On December 13, the Russian peacekeeping forces took control of the villages both villagess and a strip of the territory of the Karabakh ridge within the borders of the former NKAO were included in the zone of control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation. According to the head of the community of the village of Hintaglar, Eduard Ayvazyan, there were Russian peacekeepers in the village, then the Azerbaijani military approached them, talked, showed some documents, after which the peacekeepers left the village and went to Stepanakert. According to a source in the NKR security service, on December 14, the Azerbaijani military continued to be in the village of Khintaglar, and the village of Khtsabert was controlled by the Armenians, the situation in the region was calm until December 12, but after the ensuing battle, Azerbaijani units moved forward, surrounded the Armenian military and after inflicting losses in manpower, took about ten people prisoner. The capture of ten people was also reported by Radio Liberty. Till this day Azerbaijan refuses to extradite defenders of Khtsaberd and Hintager villages who subsequently were captured by Azerbaijani soldiers, call them terrorists who, in their opinion, carried out a military operation after the signing of an armistice. On April 20, 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on the Azerbaijani side not to bargain over the issue of Armenian captives, but just release them, as the Armenian side did.
Speaker Stephan Schennach stated:
"There is an accusation of war crimes, and in order to make a decision on these issues, there are international bodies that should investigate such crimes. The conflicting parties should not deal with this, you just need to let everyone go home."
Speaker Alexandra Luis said:
"The Nagorno-Karabakh drama will not end as long as people remain in captivity, Armenia respected the clause of the trilateral agreement on the release of all held persons and prisoners of war, but Azerbaijan refused to release about 200 Armenian prisoners of war. The Azerbaijani side refused to show any transparency. This is a clear violation of international law, in particular the Geneva Convention, which states that prisoners of war must be released home after the end of the armed conflict. "
Rapporteur Bernard Fournier appealed to Azerbaijan with a request to fully implement the decision of the ECHR, to prevent torture, degrading treatment of a person.
Today in the European Court of Human Rights there are inquiries about 228 Armenians held in Azerbaijani captivity. There are a lot of videos appearing on YouTube, showing how Armenian soldiers and civilians in captivity in Azerbaijan are being harassed and humiliated.