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Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia Arman Tatoyan has received alarming complains from the residents of Movses and several other villages of Armenia's Tavush Province that on July 12, at about 11pm, Azerbaijani troops started shelling in the direction of Tavush. The Ombudsman's Office received similar alarming calls during the day of July 12, it said in a statement. 

According to the Movses residents, shootings from the Azerbaijani side are of very close distance towards the village. According to the civilian population, shootings pose a real threat to the civilian settlements, their health, life and their property.

Right after the complaints, the ombudsman recorded the public official statement of the Armenian Ministry of Defense that the Azerbaijani army started shelling towards the Armenian side. In response to the urgent request of the Armenian human rights defender, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that the shelling is carried out in the immediate vicinity of the peaceful settlements of Tavush Province and there is a real danger for the civilian settlements. The rights defender is in direct contact with the residents of the border villages and the community administrative bodies, the statement said. 

The human rights defender, as an independent national human rights institution and guided exclusively by human rights principles, strongly condemns the shelling and that it is carried out in the immediate vicinity of peaceful settlements of Armenia, with real danger for civilian population, their health and life, as well as their property. This is even more condemnable during the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Ombudsman's Office stressed. 

The human rights defender of Armenia brings the mentioned facts to the attention of the international human rights organizations and unveils their initiation of starting targeted monitoring activities, the results of which will be summarized and submitted to international human rights community, the statement added.