Baku once again sues Yerevan for vandalism

On December 20, Azerbaijani Supreme Court Deputy Chairman and representative of the country in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Chingiz Asgarov filed a new lawsuit against Armenian vandalism in the European Court.

"New interstate application Aze v. Arm lodged with #ECHR: facts of #Armenia's responsibility for the destruction of hundreds of Azerbaijanis' properties in Lachın, Zabux and Sus of #Azerbaijan in MayAugust 2022," Asgarov tweeted.

To recap, during Armenia's three-decade-long occupation, along with humanitarian terror, Armenia committed systematic vandalism against Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Karabakh by erasing historical Azerbaijani toponyms, destroying hundreds of historical and cultural monuments, mosques, and other shrines, desecrating religious values, misappropriating ancient Albanian churches, presenting them as Armenian.

Nearly 900 cemeteries in the liberated lands were completely destroyed, tombstones were broken, and graves were excavated with the remains desecrated. For the past 30 years, Azerbaijani citizens have been denied the right to visit their loved ones' graves.

On December 21, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry confirmed that the government has taken Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Hundreds of civilian homes and other residential properties were destroyed intentionally and knowingly when Armenians withdrew from the town of Lachin and two nearby villages between May and August 2022, the Foreign Ministry said.

Even though Armenia had effective control over those areas, it failed to stop extensive destruction, the ministry said, adding that the government of Azerbaijan has irrefutable evidence that Armenian officials were actively involved in the “scorched earth” policy against properties of Azerbaijanis.

Armenia committed ethnic-cultural genocide as well as ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. There remained no Azerbaijanis in Armenia as a result of the mass deportation of the ethnic Azerbaijanis from their ancestral lands in the early XX century. Over 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native lands and became refugees as a result of the final deportation in 1988 alone.