The article entitled «Church and memorial desecration in post-ceasefire Nagorno- Karabakh» published on October 25, 2020 confirmed, that after the 44-days war, an Azerbaijani soldier destroyed the memorial, dedicated to the First Artsakh War (photo 2, source).

Earlier, on November 9, 2020 a Twitter user Simon Maghakyan published a photo of the intact khachkar, and it provided with caption proving that the memorial was destroyed. On November 17, 2020 @LalayanRubina posted a video on her Twitter, showing how an Azerbaijani soldier is committing an act of vandalism towards the cultural heritage (photo 1).

Our response

According to the 4th article of the 1954 Hague Convention "On the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict", any acts of theft, robbery or misappropriation of cultural property in any form, and any acts of vandalism are prohibited.

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 Protocol of 1999 of the Hague Convention reaffirms this requirements and, according to the 15th article regarding the mentioned actions as an international crime.

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.