Azerbaijani Shelling of Armenia’s Chinari Village Causes Major Damage

YEREVAN—Azerbaijani army’s incessant shelling of Chinari village in Armenia’s Tavush Province has caused millions of drams in damage and threatened the civilian population there, according to village officials who estimated that damage at exceeding 12 million drams.

The attacks on villages in the Tavush Province of Armenia began on Thursday morning and continued through Friday and into early Saturday morning, when Armenian civilian positions in Barekamavan village, also in Tavush/
“The Azerbaijani shooting damaged several houses, the roof of the kindergarten and a tractor. In addition to that, a barn was burnt down, with forage stored inside. One of our villagers suffered 12-13 million AMD in damages,” the Chinari village chief. Samvel Saghoyan told panorama.am.

He also reported that Azerbaijani snipers shot at a 17-year-old boy near the village cemetery. The boy managed to find shelter for two hours behind a grave stone and avoided injury.

The Investigative Department of Tavush province in conducting a forensic examination of the area and has launched a criminal case over the shelling of the Chinari village, which caused heavy damage including destruction of residential areas and damaging the local kindergarten building.

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan held a phone conversation Monday with the representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe over the most recent of breach of the Armenian border by Azerbaijan.

Tatoyan expressed concern that the Azerbaijani armed forces are targeting mainly civilians and their property, shelling schools, kindergartens and houses, especially at times of the day when the possibility of causing harm to civilians is higher.

The Ombudsman stated that the international community must publicly condemn the targeted actions against civilians.

According to the agreement reached between the Ombudsman and the Office of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, the data on the recent shelling of bordering Chinari, Barekamavan villages of Tavush province and their consequences will be summed up and submitted to the commissioner.