Four women hospitalized as Azerbaijanis hinder their return to Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - Four civilians, all of them women, were hospitalized after self-described Azerbaijani environmentalists blocked the vehicles of Russian peacekeepers carrying 27 Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) residents from Armenia, the Karabakh Ministry of Health reports

As a result, citizens were forced to spend about 5 hours in that section of the road, and three people fainted.

Except for the four women, all the others had to return to the town of Goris in Armenia where they have been stranded for 115 days now.

Karabakh Ombudsman said in a statement on Tuesday, April 4 night that hundreds of civilians in the city of Goris and other communities of RA are simply deprived of the opportunity to reunite with their families.

“By allowing the exit of people from Artsakh in various ways, but prohibiting entry, the Azerbaijani authorities are openly implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing, as Ilham Aliyev once again admitted in his statement on January 10,” the Ombudsman said.

“It has long been obvious that the only reason for the insolent behavior of the Azerbaijani side, the ignorance of the calls of the international community, and the failure to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice is the created permissiveness, the disdain shown towards the peacekeeping mission and the lack of targeted and practical punitive actions by all interested international actors.”

Since December 12, the sole road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia - the Lachin Corridor - has been blocked by self-described Azerbaijani environmentalists. Karabakh residents have reported food and fuel shortages, while hospital patients don't have access to essential medicines, with only a handful allowed transfer to facilities in Armenia proper.