On February 14-16, together with my Artsakh colleague, Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan, we collected facts about human rights in Taghavard, Karmir Shuka, Aghavno, Khramort, and a number of other communities in the Artsakh Republic, after the 44-day war. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, wrote this on Facebook Thursday morning. He added as follows, in particular:

"Moreover, during our stay in Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], we ourselves were directly convinced of the Azerbaijani criminal actions [there].

These actions cause serious social problems for the [local] people. No opportunity is given to earn family income (…).

It is obvious that the Azerbaijani authorities are pursuing a criminal policy of intimidating [Armenian] civilians, creating a climate of despair, which is systematic and targeted.

In all the places where the Azerbaijani armed forces are stationed, the safety of the people is disrupted, life is in real danger.

All the facts prove that the criminal actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces against the [Armenian] civilian population are the same in nature in both Armenia and Artsakh—with aggressive manifestations in Artsakh.

It is obvious to us that the basis of all this is the Azerbaijani authorities’ ongoing policy of propaganda of Armenophobia and enmity [of Armenians], which is single towards both Armenia and Artsakh.

As long as the Azerbaijani authorities pursue this policy (and for them this is a source of political life), the criminal terrorist acts of their armed servicemen [against Armenians] will not stop either. So the way out of protecting the [Armenian] civilian population is that they [i.e., the Azerbaijani armed forces] should not be in the vicinity of Armenian villages and on the roads so that the [Armenian] civilians exercise their rights."