In September 2020, the South Caucasus has plunged into a major security crisis due to the large-scale military attack launched by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict, which is now known as the 44-Day War, has resulted in many deaths, the depopulation of multiple towns and villages, and an alarming humanitarian crisis on the ground. Two years have passed since the war, but major security issues have not been resolved yet, the fundamental rights of many people remain violated, and there is a significant and growing threat of new clashes and atrocities.

The undersigned civil society organizations consider the election of Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan among the judges investigating corruption crimes by the Supreme Judicial Council as highly unacceptable and condemnable. Mnatsakan Martirosyan is known as a judge involved in high-profile political cases. On his court decisions a number of political prisoners were convicted.

On October 6 a discussion entitled “Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War” was held in Warsaw in the scope of Human Dimension Conference of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Just after midnight on September 13, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack and invasion of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia shelling civilians, civilian infrastructure, and other civilian objects along Armenia’s eastern border and deeper beyond the frontline.

On October 5 Genya Petrosyan, Director of LDPF gave a speech on the issues in the judicial system, democratic reform, and security challenges faced by Armenia. She mentioned that although Armenia is on the path of democratic reforms, some processes are too slow and there are also objective reasons for that, first and foremost, serious security challenges faced by Armenia.