The fact-finding activities of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan in Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces have confirmed that on May 12 and 13, Azerbaijani military threatened shepherds (border residents of Armenia) with weapons, while illegally being in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

Specifically, in the region falling between Sev Lich (Black Lake) and the village of Vernishen in the Goris community of Syunik, Azerbaijani forces approached the shepherd of the village who was grazing the animals on the dawn of May 12, threatened him, and with a show of weapons demanded that he leaves the barn and the pasture, the ombudsman said in a statement on Tuesday.

The fact-finding activities of the human rights defender have demonstrated that the barn of the shepherd of Vernishen is located in the area of the pasture permanently used by the residents of Akner, Vernishen and a number of other villages, in the area falling between Sev Lich and Vernishen civilian community. Sev Lich is located in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

In the area of the barns in the pastures of Verin Shorzha village of the Vardenis community of Gegharkunik, around 10 Azerbaijani servicemen approached the shepherd of Verin Shorzha village on May 12, and threatened him with a show of weapons, speaking to him also in the Armenian language.

On the same day, when six shepherds from Vardenis and Ayrk villages grazed their large and small cattle around the water basin near the same pasture located in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, dozens of Azerbaijani servicemen approached them, threatened them with a show of weapons and gave them 5 minutes to leave, otherwise they threatened to take them as captives.

Similarly, on 13 May about 50 Azerbaijani servicemen threatened the shepherd of Verin Shorzha village with a show of weapons and demanded him to leave, otherwise threatening to kill or take him as a captive.

Moreover, on May 12, a shepherd from the village of Kut in Geghamasar went to the barn in his pasture located adjacent to the village and discovered around 50 Azerbaijani armed servicemen.

During the ombudsman’s visit, it became apparent that the pastures are allocated to the people on the basis of rent by the legal documents of the local authorities. Therefore, the issue is related to the illegal deprivation of legal rights.

According to the shepherds, they no longer have access to the pastures. Moreover, in Kut for example, the residents mentioned that they are obliged to not to send the animals to the pastures.

The issue is the fact that the Azerbaijani armed servicemen ae physically present in the pastures that legally belong to the people, and in some cases, it is impossible to use the pastures since they fall under the Azerbaijani line of fire.

At the same time, the shepherds informed that they could not even approach the pastures, as in the event of such an attempt, the Azerbaijani armed servicemen would open fire. This also applies to the hayfields.

These circumstances mentioned by the shepherds are confirmed also by the evidences obtained by the human rights defender, such as the legal documents on the use of the pastures, the studies on the ground, relevant photographs, etc.

“The ombudsman’s fact-finding activities of May 12 and 13, 2021, evidences that the Azerbaijani servicemen, being armed, committed criminal acts against the border residents, threatening to kill or taking as captives unarmed civilians, illegally demanding to leave their pastures and barns that belong to them by the legal documents provided by the competent authorities of the Republic of Armenia.

“The Azerbaijani forces have violated the internationally recognized rights of the border resident of Armenia; rights which are also enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, which are the rights to life, to physical and mental immunity, to property, and other fundamental rights. Moreover, the Azerbaijani servicemen were wearing balaclavas (masks) when they were communicating with the civilians.

“It is evident that in order to protect the border residents of Armenia from such illegal actions, a security zone should be created around the Gegharkunik and Syunik region, along all the sections of the border with Azerbaijan.

“The issue is that such actions are not unique. The fact-finding activities of the Human Rights Defender in recent months have registered other cases of violation of the rights of shepherds living on the border by the Azerbaijani armed servicemen,” Tatoyan said, sharing a photo showing an example of a pasture which is under Azerbaijani line of fire.