PanARMENIAN.Net - Լandmines displayed in photographs provided to the International Court of Justice by the Azerbaijani government were taken by Azerbaijan from the sovereign territories of Armenia during Baku’s various acts of aggression in 2021, according to Sean Murphy, a member of the legal team representing Armenia in the case concerning Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Azerbaijan v. Armenia).
“It is indeed notable that the photographs Azerbaijan has presented to the Court typically show either a close-up of a landmine, or landmines laid out in neat columns and rows. There are just three photographs that purport to show the clearing of a minefield, the location of which is not specified,” Murphy said in his speech․
“Further, there is no statement from, for example, a combat engineer addressing how the landmines were removed without detonating them, or where exactly they were located when he or she removed them. There is nothing explaining how and why the landmines were transported by Azerbaijan from the alleged minefield to another location, so as to be laid out in those neat columns and rows.”
The attorney said Armenia’s basic position regarding landmines, which is that “since the end of the 44-Day War, [Armenia] has carried out minelaying exclusively within the sovereign territory of [Armenia] for self-defense purposes only”.
Murphy showed the Court a map illustrating the territories of Armenia that were occupied by Azerbaijan in 2021-2022 and that remain occupied today․
“These attacks and their condemnation by the international community are well documented. For example, the European Parliament in May 2021 a...
