“The military personnel of the Armenian Armed Forces committed crimes against the peace and security of humanity in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as provided for in Part 1 of Article 387 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The perpetrators must be punished as they deserve, and Armenia must take measures to reduce the criminal consequences of the acts committed”, prof. Namik Aliyev, D.Sc. stated.
People continue to die and become disabled in the Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenian occupation. The reason is the Armenian mine terror. Contrary to the norms of international law, the Republic of Armenia has mined vast territories in the Karabakh and East Zangezur regions of Azerbaijan and refuses to provide authentic maps of minefields.
This topic requires special attention, everyone who can should write and talk about it. The world community should know what the occupiers left behind and should not remain indifferent to what is happening.
Today, the indifference of the International Committee of the Red Cross to this situation is striking. There was a time when this organization was perceived in the world as truly humanitarian, it has a rich history, full of good and noble deeds. I had the opportunity to cooperate with this organization due to my service in the Azerbaijani parliament, and one of our joint projects was the first and only translation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 into Azerbaijani, carried out by me and my colleague in the Milli Majlis, Hafiz Babayev. The translation and publication were carried out in 1999 for the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Conventions. Perhaps, this was the peak of the ICRC's cooperation with Azerbaijan.
In recent years, the staff of this international organization have increasingly forgotten the principles of this NGO, laid down by the outstanding specialist in humanitarian law, Jean Pictet. We remember how the ICRC discredited itself during and after the 44-day war.
And today there is complete silence and indifference towards people dying from mines. And the only reason is that they are Azerbaijanis.
Demining more than one million mines, literally sown on Azerbaijani lands, requires decades of time, huge financial and human resources. Failure to provide maps to Azerbaijan means that the Armenians want our servicemen and civilians to die, and therefore want the war to continue. Failure to provide Azerbaijan with minefield maps, as well as providing false maps, is the highest degree of immorality! Those who still have a little conscience left, those who want to live and advocate for the establishment of lasting peace in the South Caucasus, should raise their voices against this in the Republic of Armenia itself, if there is even a drop of democracy there.
Minefields were created by the armed forces of Armenia. During their presence in the occupied territories, none of their servicemen were blown up there, which means that the alleged absence of minefield maps is an obvious criminal lie, testifying to the inhumanity of Armenian fascism. Without providing these maps to Azerbaijan, we cannot make concessions to them. It is important to make the issue of the Armenians' failure to provide minefield maps not just a subject of attention, but a subject of discussion for international organizations and leading countries of the world.
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines (APM) and on their Destruction (OPM, Ottawa Convention) recognizes touch mines, booby traps and other similar devices as prohibited means of warfare. This Convention was signed on 3 December 1997 in Ottawa and entered into force on 1 March 1999. The general obligation under the Convention is never to use anti-personnel mines under any circumstances. This obligation applies to all situations of armed conflict. An anti-personnel mine, once planted, has an indiscriminate effect and remains functional for a long time. The injuries caused by an anti-personnel mine are particularly severe. These weapons are designed not only to kill, but, more often, to maim for life. Mines make large areas of land unusable.
This is a treacherous, vile goal pursued by Armenian fascists. The task of the Azerbaijani people is to prevent these aspirations of Armenians from being realized to the end. We still have hope that not all Armenians think so. We must help the Armenian people to walk the path of repentance.
By the way, Armenians should know an interesting fact: in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, in Chapter 33 „Crimes against the peace and security of mankind“ there is Article 387. To begin with, I will cite its text in full:
„Article 387. Use of prohibited means and methods of warfare
1. Use of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty during military operations or armed conflicts - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a maximum term of twenty years.
2. Use or testing of weapons of mass destruction prohibited by an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of twelve to twenty years or life imprisonment (Article 387 amended in accordance with HO-143-N of May 23, 2011)“.
In accordance with this article, Armenia itself must bring to criminal responsibility those who mined the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and refuse to issue maps of minefields. And this despite the fact that the Republic of Armenia did not join the Ottawa Convention of 1997. I will explain why.
Part one of Article 387 provides for liability for "Using means and methods prohibited by an international treaty during military actions or armed conflicts", regardless of whether the Republic of Armenia has acceded to this universal treaty or not. The legislator puts precisely this meaning into this article, based on humanitarian considerations, since there are universal human values that should not depend on certain political decisions or preferences.
This is precisely why in the second part of this same article he speaks of “the use or testing of weapons of mass destruction prohibited by an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia”, i.e. he already has in mind the treaties to which the Republic of Armenia has acceded.
Thus, the military personnel of the Armenian Armed Forces committed crimes against the peace and security of humanity in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as provided for in Part 1 of Article 387 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The perpetrators must be punished as they deserve, and Armenia must take measures to reduce the criminal consequences of the acts committed.
Jean Pictet wrote: „War does not break all the ties that unite peoples; it cannot and should not attempt to put an end to all the spiritual and material achievements of civilization, won with such difficulty“.
The Armenian people have a chance to prove that fascism is not their national ideology.
Editor's note: The author of the article is Prof. Namik Aliyev, D.Sc., Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of the Chair of International Relations in the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Source: https://1news.az