This fact-finding report documents the war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights norms that occurred during, and consequential to the 44-day war waged by Azerbaijan, principally against the population of Artsakh (a.k.a. Nagorno-Karabakh), during the fall of 2020. The evidence presented here is based on meticulous data collection and analysis based on multiple sources of information. The result is substantiated documentation of war crimes and human rights violations, as well as a set of recommendations to relevant stakeholders for remedying the situation.
In the framework of this endeavor, a total of 879 witnesses were consulted, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 359 of them while reviewing already reported as well as unreported incidents of violations. In order to ensure the objectivity of the report, testimonies were corroborated by evidence and analysis retrieved from other sources, such as video and photographic materials, assessments by military intelligence experts, other human rights reports, and official government reports.
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This fact-finding report has been prepared by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly of Vanadzor, the Law Development and Protection Foundation, “Protection of Rights without Borders” Non-governmental Organization.
The development of report was supported and coordinated by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia.