Ruben Melikyan, the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), on Wednesday resigned from this office.

“Yesterday, we publicized the Republic of Artsakh Human Rights Defender’s special report on the facts of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan, thus, basically concluding the fact-finding function we had started on the occasion of the April 2016 war,” Melikyan wrote, in particular, on Facebook. “After completing that task, I already reserve myself the right to implement the personal decision I made still one or two months ago; that is, submitting a resignation from the office of Artsakh Ombudsman.

“At present, I see myself outside the state system—in the domain of the function of human rights.”