Armenia – Azerbaijan: RSF Calls for an Investigation to Determine the Origin of the Shootings that Hit Journalists in Nagorno-Karabakh

Four journalists covering the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh were injured in the shelling. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to shed light on the origin of these shootings and to do everything possible to secure the evacuation of the wounded.

On the fifth day of the violent clashes that broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno Karabakh, a group of reporters was bombed in the town of Martuni. Four of them were affected. A journalist from the daily Le Monde and a French photographer who accompanied him had to be hospitalized for emergency care. A cameraman of Armenia TV , Aram Grigoryan , and a reporter of the Armenian news agency 24news.am Sevak Vardumyan  were also injured. 

Several other journalists, including a special correspondent for the independent Russian channel Dojd and an AFP team, narrowly escaped the shots. All journalists and their cars were clearly identified and carried the press badge. They accompanied the local authorities to interview the population and observe the damage caused by previous bombardments.

“This bombardment is unjustifiable: civilians, and in the first place journalists, are not military targets ,” recalls Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia office. We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to initiate an investigation to determine the origin of the shootings and to do everything possible to allow the safe evacuation of the injured journalists. ”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dispatch of a medical plane to repatriate the French wounded. 

Populated mostly by Armenians, Nagorno Karabakh seceded from Azerbaijan, leading to a war in the early 1990s. Azerbaijan occupies 168th place out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF, l ‘Armenia in 61st place.

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders(RSF), CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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