YEREVAN, JUNE 28, (USA Armenian Life Magazine and combined sources) — On Friday, The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Armenia (RA), Arman Tatoyan, wrote on his Facebook that a reporter of an international media outlet has applied to him informing that as a reporter, he received threats from the servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces near Upper Shorzha village in Gegharkunik Province of the Republic of Armenia.
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia stated that Azerbaijani soldiers who have illegally infiltrated inside the territory of the Republic of Armenia’s above-mentioned area, threatened to kill the reporter, including by a sniper.
It has been found that the incident took place 2 kms inside the Armenian territories, where Armenian and Azerbaijani servicemen are positioned around 600 meters away from each other. The reporter was just 100 meters away from the Azerbaijani soldiers, but the incident took place in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
While carrying out his professional activities, the journalist noticed that the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces were behaving aggressively; he heard shouts, and then noticed that they were loading their weapons, holding them in his direction, threatening to shoot.
One of the Azerbaijani occupation soldiers started behaving more aggressively and irregularly, holding a sniper rifle and threatening to kill the international reporter with a shot in the face. The international journalist stopped working in order to avoid unpredictable consequences.
The journalist representing the international media informed that the soldiers carried a visible badge for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces; that he was a representative of the international press; that he has observed all the rules of journalistic work.
The serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces tried to hamper the works of the international reporter in order to prevent the spread of the materials proving the invasion of Azerbaijani forces into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. The reporter has also applied to the ‘’Reporters Without Borders’’ international organization, which has already issued a statement.
Due to the need for personal identification protection of the international journalist in connection with this particular incident, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia abstains from publishing personal information about the victimized journalist, but they will be submitted to the relevant international bodies after a joint discussion with the journalist.
The Human Rights Defender has repeatedly stated that the obviously illegal presence of the Azerbaijani armed servicemen, their openly criminal acts in the immediate vicinity of the villages of RA Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces, on the roads between the communities of Syunik Province, and since May 12, also in the RA sovereign territory, have grossly violated the rights of the residents of the RA border villages, seriously endangered their lives and health, completely disrupted the normal life of the people
A security zone should be established along all sections of the border with Azerbaijan to protect people from the illegal actions of invading Azerbaijani soldiers.