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YEREVAN. – The Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Karen Andreasyan, has issued a letter to Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights,

In the letter, the Armenian ombudsman expressed his concern in connection with the fate of the three crew members of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Air Force helicopter which Azerbaijan had shot down recently.   

“Eight days have already passed since the incident, yet the Azerbaijani side does not permit approaching the helicopter and taking the crew members out.    

“Furthermore, the Azerbaijani side has not allowed the OSCE representatives to conduct a ceasefire violation monitoring at the helicopter crash site.  

“Keeping the downed helicopter’s crew under fire for days on end does not only run completely contrary to the norms which the international humanitarian law specifies, but it violates the fundamental principles of ethics and conscience.  

“I call upon you to contribute to the helicopter crew’s return to the Armenian side, and the conducting of a comprehensive, impartial, and transparent investigation into the incident,” the letter specifically reads.        

The Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire and shot down an NKR Air Force helicopter on November 12. The chopper was downed during a training flight, and it crashed on the neutral zone of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots are believed to have been killed: the commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, as well as Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. There were no weapons in the chopper. The adversary, on the other hand, continues to fire intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing access to the area.

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