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Despite the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 that ended the 44-day war in Artsakh, Azerbaijani forces continued to commit criminal actions against the Artsakh Armenians over the past year, Artsakh's Human Rights Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Over the past year, after the signing of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, the Azerbaijani side deliberately and consistently continued to commit criminal actions against the Artsakh people, about which the Ombudsman's Office repeatedly informed the public, international structures and human rights organizations," the ombudsman said.

“Even though the large-scale hostilities have ceased, the military aggression of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem has been replaced by planned and coordinated actions to intimidate the population of Artsakh and to force out the Armenians from Artsakh,” Stepanyan said.

The statistics provided by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Artsakh show that last year the Azerbaijani armed forces deployed near the civilian settlements committed 56 crimes and 43 criminal cases were opened over them.

"As a result of criminal actions of the Azerbaijani troops, 2 civilians and 9 military personnel were killed, attempted murder was committed against 24 civilians and 44 servicemen, 9 civilians and 28 military men received various gunshot wounds, 6 people were physically abused and 2 received death threats," the report says.

In Stepanyan’s words, property damage totaling 17,710,000 drams was caused as a result of Azeri criminal encroachments. 5 houses, 3 units of agricultural machinery, 7 vehicles, 2 units of construction machinery were targeted, 3 gardens and sowing areas were burnt, cattle herds were also targeted.

Over the past year, shots were repeatedly fired from the Azerbaijani outposts stationed near the Armenian settlements, thus infringing upon the mental inviolability of the peaceful population.

According to Stepanyan, the Ombudsman's Office will compile a report on all the recorded incidents to submit it to international organizations.