Understanding Azerbaijan’s Blockade of the Lachin Corridor as Part of a Wider Genocidal Campaign

The Tip of the Iceberg

Understanding Azerbaijan’s Blockade of the Lachin Corridor as
Part of a Wider Genocidal Campaign against Ethnic Armenians.

Introduction
As the world condemns Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, we must not lose sight of
the deeper threat fueling the humanitarian catastrophe: the full-scale ethnic cleansing and potential
genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

1 and parts of Armenia.

The University Network for Human Rights, in collaboration with students, lawyers, and
academics from Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human
Rights, Wesleyan University, and Yale’s Lowenstein Project conducted two fact-finding trips in
Nagorno-Karabakh and four in Armenia between March 2022 and July 2023. We documented atrocities
perpetrated by Azerbaijani forces against ethnic Armenians during the 44-Day Nagorno-Karabakh War in
2020, after the ceasefire, during the 2022 attacks in sovereign Armenia, as well as in times of relative
peace. Among these are extrajudicial killings of civilians, including the elderly and disabled; enforced
disappearance of Armenian troops; torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners of war;
death threats, intimidation, and harassment of residents of border communities; and life-threatening
restrictions on freedom of movement and access to vital infrastructure.
Our findings are based on dozens of firsthand testimonies from forcibly displaced persons,
families of missing or forcibly disappeared soldiers, families of victims of extrajudicial killings, returned
prisoners of war (POWs), and current residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and border communities in
Armenia. Most names have been altered to protect the privacy of victims and families.

1 Throughout this report, we use the term Nagorno-Karabakh. However, if an interviewee used the term “Artsakh”,
the Armenian term for Nagorno-Karabakh, we did not change the language of the original quote.

The uptick in abuses began during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, also known as the 44-Day
War, during which Azerbaijani and Armenian forces engaged in full-scale combat in and around
Nagorno-Karabakh. By the conclusion of the war, Azerbaijan had assumed control of a significant portion
of Nagorno-Karabakh; no Armenians remain in those areas: If they had not fled before their villages fell,
Azerbaijani forces captured or executed them. Despite provisions of the ceasefire agreement suspending
military activity, Azerbaijan has taken advantage of its expanded power to commit grave abuses against
the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian border towns, Armenian troops stationed close to the
line of contact, and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan’s custody.
In fall 2023, we expect to release a substantial report detailing violations committed by
Azerbaijani state forces after the conclusion of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, including the lack of
accountability for wartime atrocities, as well as ongoing threats to the security of the Armenians still
living in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian border villages. Our report will be based on testimonies from
nearly 100 residents of the region, thousands of pages of official and media reports, and analysis of open
source data, including satellite imagery and video content circulated on social media platforms. For now,
given the grave violations committed over the past three years and with increasing intensity in recent
weeks, the closure of the Lachin corridor, and the very real threat of mass forced displacement,
widespread starvation and genocide, we have decided to publish an abridged version of the report now.
We conclude here, and in the report to be issued, that the Azerbaijani government, at the highest
levels, has condoned, encouraged, facilitated the commission of or directly perpetrated the most egregious
forms of violence against Armenians. Moreover, the abuses we documented are not a string of unrelated
rights violations; taken together, these abuses reveal a synchronized, comprehensive campaign to
empty Nagorno-Karabakh and parts of Armenia of Armenians. Over the past three years, thousands
of Armenians have faced an impossible decision: abandon their homes — and sometimes their sick or
elderly family members — or face death or worse at the hands of Azerbaijani forces. Today, the population
of Nagorno-Karabakh, sequestered by Azerbaijan’s total prohibition on movement along the Lachin
Corridor, may not even have the luxury of choosing escape. As the humanitarian crisis in the Lachin
Corridor reaches a boiling point, the door is closing on the chance to prevent another genocide against
ethnic Armenians.

I. Forced Displacement

Azerbaijan has deployed a series of mutually reinforcing measures that have made life in
Nagorno-Karabakh impossible for its 120,000 inhabitants. Our team spoke with dozens of residents of
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian border communities who described a range of abusive tactics intended
to cause or result in the forced displacement of ethnic Armenians: Intimidation through attacks,
surveillance, and direct threats of military attacks; complete control over who and what is allowed to enter
and exit Nagorno-Karabakh; arbitrary detention or abduction of Armenian civilians or troops inside
Nagorno-Karabakh and undisputed sovereign Armenian territory, as well as at border crossings; the
selective and arbitrary cessation or blockage of essential services (gas, electricity) and humanitarian aid;
the deliberate attack on sources of livelihood – namely agricultural lands and livestock, as well as tourism
assets; and the endangerment of food security, all against a backdrop of celebratory displays of torture and
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killings of Armenians and unapologetic destruction of property and cultural heritage. This situation will
result in the mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh (if Azerbaijan lifts the blockade
of the Lachin corridor), the coerced surrender of the self-declared independent republic to Azerbaijan, or
the slaughter of the Armenians still living in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to several people with whom University Network researchers spoke, one of the
principal forms of violence that has driven many from their homes has been Azerbaijani’s use of intense
and persistent shelling. For instance, in Khramort, a village on the eastern border of Nagorno-Karabakh
close to the frontline, residents claim that the shelling that occurred at the onset of the war still continued
when our team interviewed them in March 2022, just one day after they fled to Stepanakert. Susana, an
epidemiologist who lived in the village with her daughter and grandchildren, had already been displaced
earlier in the war from Hadrut, the location of some of the most brutal killings of civilians during the 2020
war. In Khramort in 2022, she explained how relentless shelling has impeded simple day-to-day
activities and caused many to flee. “There is no way to continue living in Artsakh. They are violating
human rights in every possible way from every possible side,” she lamented.
The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) documented the
intimidation of the civilian population of Khramort and other border villages in a report published in
March 2022. The report presents detailed accounts of the use of high caliber weapons, including grenade
launchers and firearms, on agricultural lands and equipment and near administrative and residential areas,
prompting the evacuation of women and children as well as the cessation of all agricultural activity. Over
a period of five days, shelling from Azerbaijan pushed Armenian residents in seven different communities
from two of the easternmost regions of Nagorno-Karabakh to cease agricultural work and thus sacrifice
their only source of livelihood, and to abandon their homes. At the time that report was published, the
Human Rights Defender stated that “Russian peacekeepers are unable to provide security guarantees for
civilians engaged in agricultural work.” A year later, when University Network researchers returned to
Armenia to conduct additional fact finding, we found that Azerbaijani forces had attacked sovereign
Armenia as well, particularly in border villages of the Vardenis and Syuniq regions, using the same
tactics: shelling of administrative and civilian structures, firing on agricultural and grazing lands, as well
as killing or theft of livestock.
Azerbaijan has employed the mechanisms of forced displacement incrementally. This has led
to a general under-acknowledgement of the overarching threat presented by individual acts of
encroachment on the autonomy and security of Armenian communities in Nagorno-Karabakh and along
the Armenian border. To illustrate: Azerbaijan’s obstruction of freedom of movement along the Lachin
Corridor has gradually increased since the end of the 44-Day War. Based on information gathered by the
University Network through conversations with individuals and organizations familiar with the process of
transiting the Lachin corridor, we strongly believe that Azerbaijan played a decisive role in denying
foreigners, including journalists and human rights defenders, access to Nagorno-Karabakh. A year later,
freedom of movement was dramatically restricted even further, as the Azerbaijani government supported
— if not directly facilitated — protests by its citizens that blocked the corridor. The protests were
eventually replaced by the creation of the formal border checkpoint, followed by the installation of a
concrete barrier, until ultimately reaching a state of complete prohibition of all movement of people,
goods, services and humanitarian aid, including International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

medical transport vehicles. In a recent report explaining the crisis on the Lachin Corridor, International
Crisis Group wrote:

Baku appears to view the checkpoint as a way of asserting control of territory that legally belongs to
Azerbaijan but remains out of its hands under the armistice terms, and which Baku now refers to as the
‘former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.’ Indeed, a mid-level Azerbaijani official characterised
the move to Crisis Group as a ́reclamation of sovereignty ́ (emphasis added by University Network).
Another Azerbaijani official told Crisis Group that Baku will use the new checkpoint to ́observe, control
and influence ́ Nagorno-Karabakh (emphasis added by University Network).
In parallel, Azerbaijan has taken advantage of its appropriation of basic infrastructure to
increasingly undermine Karabakh Armenians’ access to basic services. In February 2022, residents of
Nagorno-Karabakh started experiencing disruptions in the flow of gas through Shushi (Shusha), the city
that had been taken by Azerbaijan in the last days of the 2020 War. In September 2022, after Azerbaijan
acquired control of electricity cables traversing the Lachin Corridor, Nagorno-Karabakh drastically
increased its reliance on scarce internal water resources to generate hydroelectric power.
Territorial encroachment has also been incremental: After the initial transfer of some areas in
accordance with the terms of the 44-Day War ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijani forces moved further in on
sovereign Armenian territory on several occasions throughout 2021. These operations culminated in the
September 2022 attacks across four distinct civilian and touristic areas in the southeast of Armenia. The
September 2022 attacks brought with them another round of arbitrary detentions, torture of Armenian
captives, and summary executions.
There has been no reliable buffer between vulnerable Armenian communities and grave threats to
their security. Russian forces in Armenia, Lachin, and Nagorno-Karabakh have been insufficient to
protect civilian Armenian populations from intimidation, physical attacks, and arbitrary detention. While
the presence of the EU Mission in Armenia, a civilian monitoring mission created by the European Union,
has offered some oversight, at the time of writing, the threats facing the Armenian population of
Nagorno-Karabakh fall outside their mandate.
To say that this situation is unsustainable for Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh is a gross
understatement. Viewed alongside the discriminatory policies and hate speech emanating from the highest
levels of the Azerbaijani government, as well as directly from perpetrators of abuses as they are
committing them, there is only one way to read the situation: Azerbaijan is openly pursuing a policy of
ethnic cleansing and is dangerously close to carrying out the genocide of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenians.
Allegations of ethnic cleansing are not alarmist. Genocide Watch had issued a Genocide Warning
in September 2022, considering “Azerbaijan’s assault on Armenia and Artsakh” to have fulfilled four key
steps on the road to genocide: dehumanization, preparation, persecution and denial. In August 2023,
former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampos asserted, “There is an ongoing Genocide against 120,000
Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

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II. Arbitrary Detention, Torture and Enforced Disappearance
Azerbaijan arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared and tortured prisoners of war during the
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Many of these victims remain in custody or are unaccounted for. Following
the ceasefire, Azerbaijan has continued to carry out these same abuses against Armenians captured in
their incursions into sovereign Armenian territory.
Capture of Armenian soldiers occurred in places with no ongoing hostilities, as soldiers retreated
from combat zones in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in contested border locations. Since the ceasefire,
Azerbaijan has seized Armenians outside the scope of regular military operations, including by
detaining Armenian civilians who accidentally crossed unmarked borders in disputed territory; detaining
villagers as they tended to their land and herded their livestock; and capturing Armenian soldiers in
groups through entrapment. The latter has occurred after surprising or luring in Armenian soldiers and
feigning good-faith negotiations.
Azerbaijani forces have also subjected Armenians to due process violations after detaining them,
including: spurious charges such as illegally crossing a border in the context of a territorial dispute; use of
coerced self-incriminating testimony; and lack of access to interpreters, adequate legal representation and
trial by an independent and impartial tribunal.
Torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment have taken place throughout detention,
and differences in conditions and treatment tend to correlate with the location or stage of detention: initial
capture, transfer, holding cell/military police custody, State Security Service (SSS) custody, and prison.
The worst treatment has taken place in the military police stations, in SSS buildings, or during the transfer
of captives between detention sites. The ICRC has had access to captives only when detainees are in
prisons (the final stage of captivity), not when they are in military police or SSS custody, therefore the
worst torture violations have gone unnoticed and unpunished.
Forms of torture and mistreatment have included prolonged and repeated beatings with batons,
skewers, brooms, and firearms; lacerating wrists with zip-ties; employment of electro-shock and stress
positions; sleep deprivation; confiscation of warm clothing during extreme cold; deprivation of food,
water, and hygiene products; and infliction of mental suffering and humiliation. Torture has sometimes
been accompanied by expressions of religious or ethnic discrimination. Additionally, Azerbaijani state
forces have often shared videos of torture on social media and public television, which serves to further
humiliate the victims, instill fear among Armenians, and perpetuate the forced displacement of those
remaining in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Perpetrators of torture have included soldiers, special forces, military police, SSS officials, as
well as guards and wardens in prisons and other detention centers. Azerbaijani forces also reportedly
recruited civilians, including doctors and their patients and minors, to participate in acts of torture in jails
and during transfers.
Hundreds of Armenians have been detained and at least 37 remain in detention as of August 17,

2023. These numbers likely do not capture the full extent of captivity, given that at least some of the
      people who have at some point been considered missing have been forcibly disappeared – held in secret
      detention in military police or SSS custody and subjected to the most extreme forms of torture. These
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Armenian POWs were detained in undisclosed sites and in Baku prisons while Azerbaijan denied
knowledge of detainees’ locations to the families, the ICRC, and the Armenian government, despite
video evidence that numerous individuals were in custody. University Network researchers interviewed
returned POWs who were in Azerbaijani custody for months before their status changed from “missing”
to “POW,” as well as returned POWs who reported being in detention in Azerbaijan alongside Armenians
who to this day are classified “Missing in Action” or “MIA.”
Some returned POWs have continued to face challenges even after their release. At least one
returned POW told the University Network that an Armenian National Security Service official
reprimanded him for not killing himself to avoid capture. In general, the Armenian government has not
provided adequate psychological support to returned POWs. With respect to missing persons, for nearly
two years, families of the missing have doubly suffered due to the Armenian government’s failure to
communicate clear and accurate information. This may be changing thanks to the creation of a new
institution dedicated to handling issues of POWs, hostages and missing persons.

Edgar: The longest day of my life
Azerbaijani forces captured Edgar along with two other Armenian soldiers when they
were several kilometers from Jermuk city in sovereign Armenian territory in September,
2022, nearly two years after the ceasefire that ended active hostilities over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The three Armenian servicemen had been separated from their unit
while following a command to retreat, one day after fighting erupted on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border. After trekking through ravines and wading through rivers all
night, they were only a few hundred meters from safety when they were captured:
“We basically reached the forest. I couldn’t imagine in my worst nightmares that
the enemy had reached those places. We thought we were safe. When the
youngest guy felt really bad we decided to take a break and sleep for like two
hours and after that continue on our way. And when we woke around 7 in the
morning we saw the forest before our eyes, and we saw that there were only
several hundred meters to the forest, so we started moving and after we took
several steps the enemy sniper from behind a nearby boulder said ‘put down
your weapons or I’ll shoot’.”When they said put your weapons down, the boys
with me put down their weapons but I didn’t put down mine, thinking, ‘What
should I do?’ It was obvious if we put down our weapons… maybe we get taken
captive, maybe we get shot, maybe something worse happens (no need to go into
detail). I bought time by pretending I didn’t understand Russian… At that
moment it was dif icult to make the decision to live. I made that choice
remembering my mother, my sister… My guys turned around and looked at me
and asked me, please put down your weapon. So I put down my weapon and we
became captives.
At the beginning they were threatening us, taking out knives, making motions of
cutting ears. I wasn’t scared because I was sure I would pass out before they cut
my ears.

Edgar’s captors eventually transported him to military police custody in Azerbaijan:

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“I stayed there for only one day, but it was the longest day of my life…They keep
you in a small room, there is a small hole in the door where they can watch you,
and you are supposed to stay still like this [sits upright and stif ens his body] all
the time, whether it is day or night or if you want to go to the toilet, it doesn’t
matter. They forced us to stand.

When the University Network interviewer asked how long, Edgar responded:

“Always….They only let us move when they gave us food, which happened once
a day, a piece of bread this size [holds his thumb and index finger about three
cm apart]. I was lucky because I was there only for one day, but the worst part
about being at the military police station is that four-five people came every
45-50 minutes and hit you very hard, really, really hard. It doesn’t matter if you
stayed still or moved. It was their job and they enjoyed it very much, I think.”
2

Edgar was in the prison for approximately one week before the first visit of the Red
Cross. On September 22, the day before the Red Cross came “we were brought a variety
of items – soap, shampoo, clothes, a pillow (until then we had no pillow), a blanket (until
then we didn’t have a blanket, it was cold), and they even set up a television set. They also
brought books.

“Before they had brought books that were basically Azerbaijani propaganda
about how awful Armenians are…When the Red Cross came they also brought
books translated into Armenian, Jack London, Agatha Christie…When we saw
the ICRC come we could finally breathe because that meant that the world
knew about us. Until then we thought we would be in Baku for months or years
and that would be considered disappeared.”

That fear was well-founded. Azerbaijani forces had captured Hagop in Armenia in
November 2021. Weeks transpired before Azrebaijani authorities of icially acknowledged
that Hagop was in their custody. In an interview with University Network researchers,
Hagob recalled how while he was in prison, an interrogator “told me that I was
considered to be MIA. He told me that they could do whatever they wanted to those of
us considered MIA—that they could kill and bury me and no one would ever know
anything.”

III. Extrajudicial Killings and Mutilation of the Deceased
Azerbaijani forces have carried out extrajudicial killings of Armenian soldiers and civilians both
during and following the 44-Day War for which no one has been held to account. Postwar killings have
ranged from the summary execution of soldiers in the wake of combat who had been injured and/or disarmed
prior to their execution to entering communities and killing the civilians who remain. Among
non-combatants who have been extrajudicially killed are the elderly and disabled who would not or
physically could not escape before Azerbaijani forces overtook their towns. Azerbaijan’s leadership
condones and encourages the cruelest forms of violence against Armenians through widespread hate
speech and racist propaganda, as well as by failing to investigate and hold perpetrators to account.

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