Contact your Members of Parliament or Congress now and urge them to take immediate action to stop war crimes & press for prosecution
We provide a sample letter you can use and personalize to send to your elected officials:
Dear _____________,
I am ______________ from __________ and I am writing to you as a matter of urgency to draw your attention to the severe war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Azerbaijani Army against the indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh (Karabakh) and Armenia. The consequences of these atrocities have been grave, both for the population and the leadership of Artsakh and Armenia.
The community behind the initiative www.AzeriWarCrimes.org has collected and, with the help of lawyers, categorized and publicized a bulk of incriminating evidence against the leadership and the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. The evidence was secured by gathering open-source intelligence through extensive monitoring of relevant social media accounts and reports from organizations, experts, journalists and local authorities.
The evidence collected has been thoroughly assessed and clearly depicts ethnicity of perpetrators and victims. The authenticity of the evidence can be reasonably argued based on the spoken language(s), scenery, uniforms and other characteristic identifiers. Independent investigation has been conducted by the digital forensics team at Bellingcat on the “Hadrut Executions”- footages, by DFRLab on the use of banned phosphorus munitions, and by Human Right Watch in its 5 reports on torture of Armenian POWs, use of cluster munitions, shelling of civilian areas and double-trap bombing of the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the city of Shushi. The Guardian and Amnesty International, in turn, have verified two videos of live beheadings of elderly Armenian civilian captives.
Among other ongoing war crimes, and more than a month into the Russia-brokered peace, the majority of Armenian POWs are still being held captive by the Azerbaijani authorities. As part of a psychological warfare, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev appears to intentionally drag and delay the POW exchange, while the videos attesting to their abuse are being heavily circulated in the public domain, further traumatizing the families of the POWs and the Armenian society at large.
The evidence attests to serious, systematic violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Azerbaijani government of international humanitarian law, specifically of the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, the United Nations Convention on Torture, the Rome statute as well as international customary law, among many. These crimes further deepen the wounds of the Armenian people, and hinder upon any plans or hopes for reconciliation and lasting peace between the two nations.
Inaction and failure to condemn these crimes are a collective stain on the rightful image of _____________ and will remain as a shameful chapter world history and global human rights, unless you act now.
I urge you to look into the provided evidence and exercise your fullest influence and expertise for the following:
1) Demand the government for an unequivocal condemnation of Azerbaijan’s war crimes and crimes against humanity; pressure for transparent and fair trials and prosecution.
2) Demand the government to introduce punitive sanctions against Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as their leaders and leaders’ families, along with their business associates.
3) Demand the government to support the establishment of an independent International Inquiry Commission that will launch a fact-finding mission, process evidence and secure prosecution of war crimes.
4) Demand the government to reach out to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the regime in Baku regarding the immediate release of all Armenians held captive by Azerbaijan.
5) Demand the Government to instruct our Foreign Ministry and the mission to the OSCE, to commit their full support to the Minsk Group’s complete, exclusive and unrestricted engagement in securing a fair negotiation process for the Armenian side in order to achieve the return of territories that are part of Nagorno-Karabakh proper, guarantee the security of the people of Artsakh and fulfill their right to self-determination, secure the status of Artsakh, and help the sides reach a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict.
Time is costly to all of us, but to Armenian people, to the Armenian POWs — time is an unaffordable luxury. Human beings rely on us. Your personal engagement in this matter can be a game changer.
Best Regards,
__________________
Kindly consider sending a similar call to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of your country too.