Category: 2020

Azerbaijanis have beheaded the statue of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan, the national hero of Armenia and Artsakh, in the town of Shushi, Marina Shakhnazaryan, a member of the Civil Consciousness NGO, said on Facebook on Monday, sharing photos of the statue.

“Aram, how are you? … Are you satisfied?

“The enemy has desecrated and beheaded the statue of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan, which has been left in Shushi,” she wrote, addressing Vazgen Sargsyan’s brother Aram Sargsyan.

Artistic Director of the Yerevan State Pantomime Theater, Honored Art Worker of Armenia Zhirayr Dadasyan says Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should step down immediately, adding he expressed the same opinion back in 2018.

“This man is simply very strange. What else can we say to make him understand that he has failed, has committed a great crime and sold the homeland? What else? It doesn't seem to work. I do not know. We have found ourselves in a very difficult situation,” Dadasyan said.

The art worker noted people just need to learn the history to know how the “fiery” revolutionaries ended up.

“His continued stay in power may have very bad consequences for him, and it looks like we are already losing the country. I do not know how the country can be pulled out of this hole. It will be a very difficult task, I don't know who would manage to do it. Only a suicider would agree to take on this heavy burden now and to try to change the situation amid the efforts of the spoiled society to criticize and discred everything. As if this society wants to stay in the hole, or to fall into a deeper hole. It will be very difficult, I don’t know, Dadasyan said.

He states that Nikol Pashinyan must step down immediately, because the country is “on the brink of destruction.”

“I just can't imagine whether we had such a leader in our 5000-year history? I think no, because all this is simply nonsense," he said.

“Well, how long is he going to stay? What else does he have to do? Isn't what has been done and all these manipulations enough? Or does he still have to implement other oral or even written agreements? … In short, the situation in our country is very difficult, I do not know how it will end," Dadasyan added. 

Reports on war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani military during the recent war in Artsakh have been submitted to the prosecutor’s offices and police of the countries that have general jurisdiction, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said on Monday, adding the reports bear the ombudsman’s signature.

"These reports refer to the torture of our compatriots by the Azerbaijani armed forces, including beheadings, inhuman treatment, mutilation of the dead bodies, amputations, etc.

“Along with the reports, 223 pieces of objective evidence were presented to the law enforcement agencies of those countries: videos and photos, as well as detailed analysis of that evidence,” he wrote on Facebook.

In Tatoyan’s words, 103 videos were translated from Azerbaijani or Turkish into English and Russian, and translations with subtitles were added to the videos, with all possible identifications made in the videos. The logo of the Armenian human rights defender was attached to the videos to confirm their authenticity.

Moreover, 120 photos were analyzed, including those related to the illegal access to the social media accounts of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) by the Azerbaijani military and their illegal management.

“The following main issues were included in the reports:

1) premeditated murder of civilians, prisoners and the wounded;

2) torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, civilians;

3) mutilation of the bodies of victims;

4) the use of jihadists and terrorists in the war against Artsakh;

5) the use of weapons of mass destruction containing chemical elements;

6) illegal management of social media accounts of Armenian POWs by the Azerbaijani military,” he said, adding such reports have been presented by the ombudsman for the first time.

“This huge amount of work has been carried out through the efforts of our staff and experts,” Tatoyan said, thanking their partner Gurgen Petrossian for the support.

The National Assembly of Armenia on Monday adopted in the first reading a draft law on making amendments to the law "On State Duty" with 74 votes for and 1 abstention.

The bill calls for a state duty of 1,000 drams for each ton, with a coefficient of 0.3 for other tons.

The parliament also passed a bill on amending the law on compensation for damages caused to the life or health of military personnel during the defense of the country, which envisages raising the rates of payments to the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen. The bill was unanimously adopted in the first reading with 90 votes in favor.

Armenian woman Azniv Baghdasaryan, who was held in Azerbaijani captivity and was shown in a video “welcoming” Azerbaijani soldiers, has returned home.

In an interview with Sputnik Armenia, Baghdasaryan said that together with three other prisoners, she was transferred to Armenia in December.

“I've been at home for several days already,” she said.

The woman is trying to adapt to a peaceful life, communicating with her neighbors. Her cat named Pushok also helps her.

The fact that Baghdasaryan was held in Baku became known after a press conference in October in which she took part.

Incidentally, Artsakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan said earlier that Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged POWs three times in December. On December 14, 44 prisoners were handed over to Armenia, afterwards two small groups of POWs returned home.