The website monumentwatch.org, which monitors Artsakh's cultural heritage, writes:
"On December 17, 2024, a video was spread on the Tik-Tok platform, where it is clearly seen that the Azerbaijani side destroyed the monument dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Patriotic War in the occupied Haterk village of Artsakh.
The monument was built in the center of the village in 1965-1966. 400 fighters from Haterk village were killed in the Patriotic War (Balayan 2020, 314). . 1): The monument was also somewhat damaged by Artsakh during the first war. even with the unarmed eye, traces of a rifle fire can be seen on him.
Our response
The deliberate destruction of the monument dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Patriotic War in the Haterk region of Artsakh violates Article 8 of the Rome Statute and is considered a serious crime against humanity. The damage done to the monument is according to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict. of Article 4 of the Convention and additionally, 1999 Article 15(a) of the adopted Second Protocol is a "serious violation" which, as a war crime, can be prosecuted in international courts.
The destruction of the monument also violates Articles 38, 39, 40 and 41 of International Humanitarian Law. It is extremely important to emphasize the fact that the International Court of Justice has confirmed that the laws in force in the occupied territories, including the provisions for the protection of cultural values, have acquired the status of international customary law (infra jurisprudence), that is, they act as a universal and inescapable rule and are binding on all for states.
It should be added that the destruction of monuments dedicated to the Great Patriotic War is one of the directions of Azerbaijan's state policy, and since the war of 2020, the monument dedicated to the freedom fighters of Hadrut, the memorial complex dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Artsakh Liberation War and the Patriotic War in Shushi have already been destroyed. In addition, three separate monuments dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War, the First Artsakh War and the Armenian Genocide were destroyed in the village of Azokh in Hadrut.
