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Azerbaijan has destroyed an Armenian church in the Hadrut region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in violation of an ICJ ruling, Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) has warned.

In the summer of 2022, CHW documented  the near-complete destruction of the village of Mokhrenes in the Hadrut region, an area that had passed to Azerbaijani jurisdiction in 2020 following the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Among the destroyed structures was an unassuming village church, St. Sargis, nestled into a hillside, its roof covered in wild grasses. It was constructed in the 18th or 19th centuries, repurposed in the Soviet years, then revived as a church in the 1990s and remained in active use until Armenians evacuated Mokhrenes, CHW said.

"But the demolition of St. Sargis does not appear to have been the last word in Azerbaijan's intervention at the site. In our ongoing monitoring efforts, we have documented evidence of subsequent building activity, which we release to the public here. The new evidence raises questions about Azerbaijan's response to CHW's findings and the pressure on the government to abide by a decision of the International Court of Justice," the watchdog added.

The destruction of St. Sargis of Mokhrenes in 2022 was the first documented violation of the interim order indicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) in December 2021. That "provisional measure", arising from the ongoing case Armenia v. Azerbaijan, ordered Azerbaijan to “take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts.” 2  This case is ongoing and has yet to be decided on the merits.

CHW calls on Azerbaijan to inform the public about what has occurred in Mokhrenes.

"The state must abide by the December 2021 ruling by investigating the destruction of St. Sargis and holding perpetrators accountable. Given the legal implication of the church's destruction, Azerbaijan must present its plans for St. Sargis, provide public on-the-ground documentation of the new construction, and permit journalists and experts access to the village to evaluate the work. If an attempt is being made to reassemble St. Sargis, Azerbaijan must demonstrate that, with the guidance of international experts in heritage conservation, it is faithfully rebuilding the demolished structure as an historic Armenian church. A hasty, secret restoration program cannot mitigate the legal and reputational fallout from the church's destruction. If, however, the work at the site is not a restoration program but rather an effort to put in place a new structure on the site of St. Sargis, Azerbaijan must cease construction until the site can be fully examined and assessed by independent investigations into both the destruction and the new activity. Azerbaijan is obligated to protect Armenian cultural heritage and prevent any effort to erase the centuries of Armenian cultural and religious life in Mokhrenes/Susanlyg," it said.