"The water shortage in Artsakh is critical. Around 20 percent of capital Stepanakert has an issue with access to water, while 80 percent of the communities face the problem," the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Artsakh Republic Gegham Stepanyan told reporters on Thursday. 

He noted that in some communities, the water supply activates at fixed hours during the day and in other location  - once or twice during a week. 

"According to our studies, the issue is conditioned with three main factors: dry weather conditions and water scarcity, the growth of population in Stepanakert by 13-15 thousand as the city hosted displaced people from Artsakh regions and the third factor is most vividly expressed in communities, which is some of the water reserves were left under Azerbaijani occupation, and we have no possibility to access and use them," said Stepanyan. 

 As to the issue of mobile connection and internet access in Artsakh, the Human Rights Ombudsman noted the problem has arose over the past month when the mobile network and internet started operating with interruptions. 

In his words, both Karabakh Telecom and the Ministry of Territorial Administration have confirmed that the Azerbaijani side uses special technical means to jam the mobile signal and internet spread throughout Artsakh.