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The Azerbaijani troops stole three head of cattle from a shepherd's underage child in Khnatsakh, a village in Armenia’s Syunik Province, and obstructed the wheat harvest in Syunik's Tegh village on Tuesday, Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said on Facebook.

The ombudsman’s office received two alerts over the violation of the rights of the residents of Khnatsakh and Tegh villages by the Azerbaijani servicemen in Syunik Province of Armenia. It was found out that the shepherd of Khnatsakh grazed 40 head of cattle belonging to two families in the village in the pastures on Armenian territory on Tuesday. His 13-year-old child helped him.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, 3 of the animals approached the area where Azerbaijani troops are stationed. The child tried not to allow them to approach the Azerbaijani positions.

The Azeri servicemen, however, moved towards the animals, shouting that it was their territory, stole the animals and drove them deep into the area.

According to the confirmed information, the shepherd immediately reported the incident to the head of the enlarged Tegh community, who contacted the Russian peacekeepers. Only after the latter's mediation was it possible to return the cattle to the shepherd.

The other incident concerns the violation of the rights of Tegh village residents. In particular, today the villagers took agricultural equipment to the area adjacent to the village to harvest the wheat they sowed last year. However, Azerbaijani forces did not allow them to harvest the wheat.

“Such obvious criminal acts of the Azerbaijani servicemen are aimed at depriving the citizens of the Republic of Armenia of the rights to life, be engaged in cattle breeding, earn a family income and other vital rights. All this should be viewed on an ongoing basis, as they regularly commit similar acts (threats to shepherds, theft of animals, etc.) against residents of both Gegharkunik and Syunik villages.

“These actions not only pose security threats to the residents of Armenia’s border villages, but also contribute to the aggravation of their social problems.

“These incidents once again prove that protection of Armenia’s population from criminal actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces urgently require creation of a security zone,” Tatoyan said.