12:15, 6 October, 2020
GORIS, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan has voiced about the Azerbaijani military’s war crimes against Artsakh, particularly the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and health workers. He said ambulances very often come under bombardment and are unable to reach injured civilians.
Speaking at a press conference in the Armenian town of Goris on October 6, Torosyan said the Azeri forces are periodically bombarding with artillery and missile strikes Stepanakert City.
“I personally returned to Armenia from Stepanakert yesterday late in the evening, and this was my third visit since the attacks began,” he said. “The adversary is striking civilian, especially infrastructure facilities, disrupting the normal life of the civilian population. The fully mobilized medical community of Artsakh, as well as our colleagues who have left to Artsakh from Armenia to support them, are sometimes unable to provide help to people in need because Stepanakert and other cities are in permanent air raid alert and bombardment. Even ambulance vehicles are unable to reach the citizens who require medical assistance,” Torosyan said.
Torosyan said he personally witnessed an Azeri missile strike that hit very close to the Republican Hospital of Stepanakert. He said the explosion from the strike rocked the hospital building.
“The strike could’ve very likely hit the hospital. We, the medical personnel, upon witnessing the Azerbaijani military-political leadership’s intentions, have an impression that a direct, deliberate strike on medical infrastructure can’t be ruled out. This is a war crime against the peaceful population,” Torosyan said.
He displayed shrapnel from the prohibited cluster munitions that are used by the Azeris to bombard the cities in Artsakh. Torosyan said the Azeri forces are firing the banned munitions at virtually everything.
“Destroyed residential buildings, various civilian infrastructures that have been leveled to the ground – this is the situation there. We stand by our compatriots no matter what. The entire medical community of Armenia and Artsakh has set aside the less essential work and is dealing with the evacuation and treatment of those wounded.
As of October 5, the number of civilian casualties in Artsakh from the Azeri bombings stood at 21, with more than 80 others wounded.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan