Artsakh Human Rights Defender refutes Azerbaijan`s claims

ArmInfo. Artsakh Human Rights  Defender Gegham Stepanyan has issued a statement, which reads: 

"The request of the parents to transport the bodies of Samvel  Torosyan and Yervand Tadevosyan, two of the four soldiers who died as  a result of Azerbaijan's aggression (?n the night of June 27-28,  2023) against Artsakh, to Armenia and bury them in Yerablur, and the  circumstances of their transportation by the ICRC are used by the  Azerbaijani propaganda machine to claim that the RA armed forces are  allegedly deployed in Artsakh.

"With this claim, Azerbaijan is openly preparing an information  ground for initiating new attacks against Artsakh, which is already  being discussed in the Azerbaijani media.

"Azerbaijan's claims are false and have nothing to do with reality.  In order to prove it, with the permission of the relatives of the  fallen servicemen, we are publishing the facts collected by the Human  rights defender of Artsakh.

"Samvel Tigran Torosyan was born in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh  Republic on December 16, 2003 (Picture 1: Samvel Torosyan's birth  certificate). He attended Stepanakert No. 7 primary school. He  continued his education in the secondary vocational educational  program (college) of the Shushi Technological University with the  qualification of urban cadastre (Picture 2: Samvel Torosyan's  diploma).  He was receiving higher education at the Faculty of  Economics and Law of Mesrop Mashtots University in Stepanakert,  majoring in information systems (Picture 3: Samvel Torosyan's student  card). Samvel Torosyan was a citizen of the Republic of Artsakh,  registered in the city of Stepanakert (Picture 4: Samvel Torosyan's  passport). He was drafted into the army from the military  commissariat of Stepanakert. The family and relatives permanently  live in Stepanakert.

"Yervand Hovhannes Tadevosyan was born on May 27, 2003 in the city of  Berdzor, Kashatagh region of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Picture  5: Yervand Tadevosyan's birth certificate). He attended secondary  school No. 2 named after V. Zatikyan of Berdzor. He completed primary  education in 2018 (Picture 6:  Yervand Tadevosyan's primary education  certificate). Yervand Tadevosyan was a citizen of the Republic of  Artsakh, he was registered in the city of Berdzor (Picture 7: Yervand  Tadevosyan's passport). He was drafted to army from the military  commissariat of Kashatagh. After the 2020 war, Yervand Tadevosyan's  family, as a forcibly displaced family, found refuge in the Ararat  province of the Republic of Armenia, continuing to maintain the  citizenship of the Republic of Artsakh.

"To prevent possible speculations about the presented documents, we  remind that the identity documents of all citizens of the Republic of  Artsakh are issued by the Republic of Armenia, with the difference of  their registration address. It is a well-known approach, which is  used due to the non-recognition of Artsakh, so that Artsakh residents  can travel and exercise their rights in other countries as well. This  approach is applied to citizens of almost all unrecognized states in  the world, taking into account the gaps in international law and  international relations with regard to human rights protection.

"Samvel Torosyan and Yervand Tadevosyan's parents decided to bury  their children in the "Yerablur" military memorial-pantheon of the  Republic of Armenia in accordance with their rights. It is noteworthy  that this is not a new approach, and in previous years, many  servicemen of the Artsakh Republic were also buried in Yerablur,  taking into account the nationwide importance of that pantheon.

"Regarding the false claims of Azerbaijan about the military service  of RA citizens (residents) in the ranks of the Artsakh Defense Army,  the continuous fact-finding efforts of the Human rights defender  prove that since 2021, only citizens and residents of the Republic of  Artsakh perform military service in Artsakh.  Hence, we draw the  attention of the responsible actors of the international community to  the fact that the Azerbaijani side, encouraged by the impunity for  the blockade of Artsakh and its military aggressions against it, is  looking for new justifications to carry out new criminal actions  against the people of Artsakh."