Read more: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/11/azerbaijan-unlawful-strikes-nagorno-karabakh
(Berlin, December 11, 2020) – Azerbaijani forces carried out apparently indiscriminate attacks in Stepanakert in violation of the laws of war during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Human Rights Watch said today.
A Human Rights Watch on-site investigation in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh’s largest city, found numerous incidents in which Azerbaijan’s forces used inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions and artillery rockets or other weapons that did not distinguish between military targets and civilian objects. Evidence relating to an attack on October 4, 2020, indicates that multiple strikes hit residential homes in less than a minute suggesting possible bombardment – treating the whole area as a military target – which is prohibited under the laws of war. Azerbaijani forces also attacked infrastructure that may have an unlawfully disproportionate impact on the civilian population. The use by Armenian and local Nargono-Karabakh forces of military bases and dual-use infrastructure in Stepanakert placed the civilian population unnecessarily at risk.
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Azerbaijan, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/azerbaijan
For Human Rights Watch’s report on Armenian forces’ strikes in Azerbaijan, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/11/armenia-unlawful-rocket-missile-strikes-azerbaijan
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Armenia, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/armenia
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on arms, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/topic/arms
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This post was originally published on Radio Free.