The prosecutor-general of Azerbaijan said in an interview Wednesday that his office is looking into allegations of war crimes during the recent conflict between his nation and Armenia over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
United Nations Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet has already raised the alarm about possible war crimes, issuing a statement on November 2 about indiscriminate artillery shelling of populated areas, use of cluster munitions by both sides, and videos on social media that appear to show summary executions of captured soldiers. The two nations agreed to a Russian-brokered peace agreement on November 10, under which several districts that Armenia had seized from Azerbaijan after the fall of the Soviet Union would be returned by December.
Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said that they would be looking at the video footage closely, saying, “There are many fake videos. But we must say frankly that there also are videos which could be authentic.” They are looking especially at footage showing inhumane treatment of Azerbaijani prisoners and the defilement of soldiers’ bodies, as well as investigating allegations of inhumane treatment of Armenian prisoners. His office is also initiating criminal cases involving Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani civilians.