YEREVAN. – The ICRC has learnt about the incident from the news, however, we do not possess firsthand information and we will not comment on the incident, representative of the ICRC Yerevan Office Zara Amatuni said in response Armenian News-NEWS.am to comment on the incident at the line of contact.

Shant TV cameraman Davit Atoyan was wounded as a result of the fire opened by the Azerbaijani side  on Wednesday at around 6pm, at the northern sector of the Karabakh (Artsakh)-Azerbaijan line of contact.

“We would like to remind there are general rules applicable to journalists, both war correspondents and others, who are protected under international humanitarian law.

At all times civilians, including journalists, and civilian objects should distinguish themselves from militaries and military objectives in order to avoid confusion between the two and enjoy in practice the protection granted by international humanitarian law,” Amatuni said.

“A journalist on a dangerous professional assignment in a combat zone is a civilian. Journalists are protected in the same way as all other civilians, provided that they do not undertake any action which could jeopardize their civilian status. Under international humanitarian law, journalists may lose their protection against attacks if they are directly participating in the hostilities. Moreover, the parties to the conflict shall respect their obligation to make clear distinction between civilians and military, and take all feasible measures of precaution to ensure that attacks are only directed at military objectives during conduct of hostilities.”