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Azerbaijan carried out a genocidal and ethnic cleansing policy in Artsakh during the 44-day war and its policy of Armenophobia has received new extremist and fascist manifestations, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said in a statement on the first anniversary of the war on Monday.

He reminded that the large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia on September 27, 2020 was accompanied by unprecedented war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"On the first day, 9-year-old Viktoria Gevorgyan was killed at the yard of her own house as a result of shelling of the town of Martuni. Civilians, 69-year-old Genadi Petrosyan from Madatashen and 82-year-old Yuri Asryan from Azokh were brutally beheaded. The whole process was filmed by the Azerbaijani troops," Tatoyan wrote.

Civilians as well as Armenian soldiers were tortured and ill-treated both during and after the war, targeted attacks and the use of prohibited weapons destroyed civilian settlements and Armenian churches were desecrated, the ombudsman said.

Tatoyan underlined that Azerbaijan's attack in the light of the coronavirus pandemic was directed against humanity. As a result, it led to an increase in the number of deaths due to the paralysis of the health system of Artsakh and Armenia.

“All this was accompanied by propaganda of hatred and hostility, which the Azerbaijani authorities only encouraged. What happened allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion: a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide has been carried out.

“We must not forget that Azerbaijan’s state-sponsored policy of Armenophobia and hostility has not only not diminished, but has also received new extremist and fascist manifestations,” he noted.

The ombudsman recalled that to date, not a single perpetrator of the war crime has been held to account.

"As long as the perpetrators are not brought to justice, the policy of hatred and enmity towards Armenians will continue, the danger of atrocities will remain and peaceful and safe life of people will be disrupted," Tatoyan concluded.