(MENAFN- AzerNews) By
The war crimes committed by Armenians are a logical result of
asymmetrical warfare, which Armenian side is conducting against
Azerbaijan, Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis)
Nizami Safarov said, reports.
The MP made the remark at the conference on 'Armenia's war
crimes against Azerbaijan over the past 30 years', organized by the
Azerbaijani Social Research Center.
He noted that typical indicators of asymmetric warfare are
attacks on the civilian population and civilian infrastructure, the
use of prohibited means of warfare - cluster, phosphorus munitions,
inhuman treatment of hostages and prisoners of war, torture and
murder, causing long-term and large-scale damage to the
environment, involvement of mercenaries and children in
hostilities, etc.
According to Safarov, the investigation of genocide,
international crimes, crimes against humanity, the elimination of
impunity for war crimes are among the main legal priorities facing
the member states of the world community. Among the fundamental
problems in the implementation of this priority, one should
especially note the definition of the substantive, that is, the
material and legal composition of war crimes.
'Significant violations of four Geneva Conventions of August 12,
1949 and the provisions of its first protocol of June 8,1977 are
terminologically reflected in the authentic texts of these legal
acts in English and French. Serious violations include, on one
hand, violations of the norms and principles aimed at protecting
the victims of international armed conflicts, and on the other
hand, violations of the rules restricting the means and methods of
conducting hostilities, or the customs and laws of war.It's these
two points that characterize the war crimes committed by Armenian
Armed Forces and the puppet separatist regime,' he stated.
'For the systematization of such crimes it's necessary to
determine that they violate the 'Geneva Law', that is, specific
prohibitions established by the four Geneva Conventions and the
additional protocols annexed to these conventions. Armenia acceded
to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols of June 7, 1993,
and since then, compliance with the provisions of these documents
has been a legal obligation. However, the violation of
international humanitarian law has become a common occurrence for
the Armenian side, which doesn't comply with international
agreements,' Safarov said.
'Among war crimes that Armenia committed are attacks on
civilians and civilian infrastructure. The fourth Geneva convention
'On Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War' categorically
prohibits such attacks. According to Part 2 of Article 51 of
Additional Protocol I 'On the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts' - 'civilian population and
individual civilians may not be the object of attack'. Paragraph
'a' of part 2 of article 85 of this protocol prohibits the
transformation of the civilian population and individual civilians
into targets of attack, such acts are qualified as war crimes,' he
said.
The MP noted that among war crimes committed by Armenia, are use
of prohibited weapons, and in particular cluster munitions.
'According to the Dublin Convention, which was adopted on May
30, 2008 and entered into force on August 1, 2010, the production,
assembly, and use of this type of ammunition is prohibited. Modern
international criminal law qualifies the use of cluster munitions
as a war crime,' Safarov added.
'According to the article 8 of the Statute of the International
Criminal Court, 'the use of weapons, ammunition and equipment, and
methods of warfare of a nature which cause undue injury or
suffering or which are indiscriminate' entails individual
international criminal responsibility. In addition, among the war
crimes of Armenia, illegal settlement - according to paragraph 6 of
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 'On the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Wartime' - 'the occupying party may not deport
or transfer part of its own civilian population to the territory it
occupies'. In accordance with paragraph 'a' of part 4 of Article 85
of the Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol I), this is
considered a serious violation of this Protocol, that is, these
acts constitute a war crime,' he said.
--
Follow us on Twitter