Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“Today the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan declared that most of the videos of the Armenian party ascribing disrespect towards the bodies of servicemen and torture and inhumane treatment against captives to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are allegedly false.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Prosecutor General’s Office also declared that it has initiated criminal proceedings and that the guilty will be held liable.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia declares that most of the videos about tortures and inhumane treatment are the reality. Armenia and Artsakh have enshrined this with evidence (they have presented and continue to present the evidence to international bodies according to jurisdiction).

As for liability of the guilty, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia also declares that those atrocities, tortures and inhumane treatment are war crimes.

They are an integral part of the organized policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide through terrorism in Artsakh and are the result of Armenophobia that has been accumulated and coordinated with government support for years in Azerbaijan, and they weren’t committed by certain soldiers of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, those atrocities have been shown to cause mental suffering for the Armenian public and cause tension and to be praised and be seemingly ‘heroes’ in Azerbaijani society.

Thus, certain soldiers are not liable for this, the authorities of Azerbaijan are directly responsible for those tortures and inhumane treatment.”