On August 18, 2021 the website www.war.karabakhrecords.info that presents the Military Crimes committed by Azerbaijan, shared photographs showing that in Azokh village of the Hadrut region, the Azerbaijanis destroyed three different monuments dedicated to the victims of the World War II, the First Artsakh War and the Armenian Genocide (Fig. 1).

It should be noted that a few months after the 44-day war, in May 2021, the Azerbaijan Public Television (İCTİMAİ TV) prepared a reportage from which it became clear that the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Genocide was missing, but the complex itself was not completely destroyed (Fig. 2, 4).

And according to the satellite images received in June 2021 (Fig. 3), almost the entire territory of the memorial is destroyed, its walls and stairs are ruined, the memorial to the victims of the First Artsakh War is destructed, the memorial to the victims of the Genocide is missing, as well as the monument dedicated to the World War II.

Our response

The Article 4 of the Hague Convention of 1954 for the “Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” prohibits any act of vandalism, theft, robbery or embezzlement and imposes an absolute ban on acts of retaliation against cultural property.

According to the First Protocol of the 1954 Hague Convention, it is forbidden to destroy cultural or spiritual values ​​in the occupied territory.

The Second Hague Protocol of 1999 also ratifies that requirement and prohibits any act of hostility and retaliation against inheritance, which is classified as an international crime by Article 15.

Destruction of cultural property is prohibited by the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 for the Protection of War Victims, on the Laws and Customs of War, by four International conventions and protocols, and the relevant UN resolutions and treaties on the protection of human rights.