During the war, our soldiers were severely tortured by the representatives of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan, who, it turns out, have to carry out border control on the Goris-Kapan road. This particularly refers to the October 2020 atrocities in Kovsakan. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, wrote this on Facebook.

"The recently publicized report by the RA Human Rights Defender shows in detail with facts that they tortured, illegally killed people, then tied them to cars and dragged them. They photographed and video recorded all this, and then celebrated their ‘victory’ with open faces (being sure that they would not be punished) with song and dance at the school after Tatul Krpeyan in Kovsakan.

Are the RA Armenian officials who legitimize their presence and actions with their statements, instead of taking steps to remove them, aware that none of these representatives of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan has been held accountable?

In these conditions, how are they [the Armenian officials] going to guarantee the rights and safety of the RA residents traveling on the Goris-Kapan road?

Once again, I want to clearly note that peace is of the highest value to us, but in no case can the people's rights be put at real risk of mass violations—and without guarantees, at that.

The facts related to the Kovsakan case are written in detail in my report. I suggest studying [it] in detail,” the ombudsman of Armenia added.