Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have accused Azerbaijani forces have beheaded three Armenian soldiers and mutilating the bodies of more than a dozen others during the recent fighting around the disputed territories.
Karabakh Prosecutors identified the three soldiers this week after launching a formal investigation procedure in connection with alleged war crimes. They claim that one of them, Major Hayk Torosyan, was still alive when they started cutting off his head.
The headless body of another soldier, Kyaram Sloyan was returned to his family and buried on April 4, two days after the Azeri army has launched an offensive in two places of the “line of contact” Karabakh. The family, who lives in a small village in Central Armenia, received the decapitated head several days later.
The Armenian military announced that Azerbaijan made the head Sloyan as part of an exchange between the two warring parties, bodies of soldiers killed during hostilities. This exchange was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The military authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert argued in April that almost all bodies of 18 Armenian soldiers received showed signs of mutilation. They added that they would present evidence of war crimes to foreign governments and organizations of human rights.
The government and the Azeri army deny the allegations. They claim that the Armenians themselves mutilated the bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers in the worst fighting in Karabakh since 1994.
According to prosecutors Karabakh, 15 Armenian soldiers have had their ears cut off after being killed by Azerbaijani forces on 2 April.
Commenting on the recent statements; Davit Babayan, spokesman for the president of Karabakh, said the international community must respond to what he called the protests “fanaticism and fascism” Azeri.
“Normal people could not have done such things,” said Babayan. “This shows once again, what we are facing.”
Claire © armenews.com