11:14, 6 July 2023

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is going to present additional evidence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Azerbaijani checkpoint and concrete barrier on the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis, the Representative of Armenia for International Legal Affairs Yeghishe Kirakosyan said on July 6.

Kirakosyan said that Armenia began to work with international courts since the very first day of the blockade of Lachin Corridor in December 2022.

The first ruling was issued by the ECHR, ordering Azerbaijan to ensure passage of patients and those who’ve lost their homes in both ways along Lachin Corridor, but Azerbaijan has failed to implement it. Furthermore, the situation escalated further. Azerbaijan cut off gas and electricity supply into Nagorno Karabakh, prompting Armenia to take the next step and file a complaint to the ICJ.

On February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. But Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since.

“Unfortunately we didn’t have any positive movement after that ruling, on the contrary, we had more negative consequences. In April 2023 Azerbaijan installed the checkpoints and the situation escalated, then they installed the concrete barriers, almost entirely blocking passage along Lachin Corridor. Following these developments, we filed the second appeal to the ICJ, asking the court to further specify its February 22 ruling and order that any obstacle should be eliminated, including the checkpoints. Additional evidence has been provided to the court on the developments. We will provide further information this week. We hope that it won’t take the ICJ too long to issue a ruling, because it has already been two months since we filed our request,” Kirakosyan said.