STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijani forces shot and killed another ethnic Armenian resident of Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday, December 3.
Karabakh’s National Security Service (NSS) said the 65-year-old Seyran Sargsyan was captured in the no-man’s-land outside the town of Chartar before being murdered at a nearby Azerbaijani army post.
An NSS statement said the “criminal actions” of Azerbaijani troops were caught on camera from the Armenian side of the current “line of contact” in and around Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed, meanwhile, that an “individual of Armenian origin” attacked an Azerbaijani soldier in an attempt to steal his weapon. It said the soldier acted in self-defense and shot the man.
Authorities in Stepanakert dismissed the claim, saying the Azerbaijani military is trying to justify its “barbaric terrorist act.”
Armenia also strongly condemned the “deliberate” killing. The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanyan, said Azerbaijani attacks on Karabakh civilians are becoming “systematic” and show that “it is impossible to guarantee the physical security of Artsakh’s Armenians under Azerbaijani control or jurisdiction.”
