It is obvious to me that the closure of the Goris-Kapan road in Syunik [Province] is an open crime planned in advance by the Azerbaijani authorities against the entire civilian population of the Republic of Armenia (RA). The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, noted this in a statement.

"Their armed servicemen have simply committed this crime on the basis of a provocation they invented themselves.

For the second day in a row, the Azerbaijani armed servicemen keep the RA interstate road leading from Goris [city] to Kapan [city] closed.

As a result, villages (…) have been virtually completely cut off from other settlements.

These actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces have caused massive human rights violations in the RA (…).

In addition, the movement of various goods, including the movement of trucks (…) from Iran to Armenia and vice versa, has been severely restricted; that is, free movement on the Armenia-Iran road has been paralyzed.

The fact-finding work under my direct leadership yesterday and today, the analysis of the reports and the situation clearly show that the 2 sections of the Goris-Kapan road have been closed by the order of the highest Azerbaijani authorities.

The international community needs to be shown that the reckless actions by the Azerbaijani armed servicemen completely undermine the system of international law, it is an open disrespect to all the rules they have adopted," Tatoyan added, in particular.