Azerbaijani Soldiers open fire on an Armenian Shepherd in the Kut Village of the Gegharkunik Province, informs the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
An Armenian shepherd while grazing his cattle the vicinity of the Kut village inside the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
When the shepherd tried to approach the Azerbaijani soldiers to bring his cattle back, the Azerbaijani soldiers opened fire in his direction.
The servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces immediately approached the scene of the incident, in response to which the Azerbaijani servicemen opened fire again. After the retaliatory actions of the Armenian side, the fire was stopped and most of the animals were returned. No one was injured in the shooting.
Armen Tatoyan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender also received an alarm of the same incident that the Azerbaijani armed forces had opened fire on a shepherd in the village of Kut, Gegharkunik region, when he was grazing small and large cattle in the village pasture.
His post runs as follows,
Urgent fact-finding work by the ombudsman’s staff revealed that the Azeri military started firing between 12:30 and 13:00 in the afternoon, when the animals approached the river in the pasture and drank water. It is a permanent place for them to drink water. Moreover, the shepherd and the animals were in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, and the Azerbaijani armed forces were in the part that illegally entered the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
The shooting lasted for about 30 minutes in the direction of a shepherd from Kut. The shepherd managed to escape on horseback, but during that time the horse’s leg was injured by the shooting.
As a result, according to the Human Rights Defender’s Office, the Azerbaijani military stole more than 80 cattle, and 4 were shot dead.
The fact that the Azerbaijani armed forces fired at the shepherd of Kut village on June 5 was also confirmed by the RA Ministry of Defense.
The firing stopped after the return fire of the RA Armed Forces. The RA Ministry of Defense also mentioned this.
The Human Rights Defender states that these actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces are clearly criminal. In fact, they open fire on the civilian population of the Republic of Armenia with the intention of depriving them of the right to life and the opportunity to engage in animal husbandry. And all this is happening in the conditions that since May 12, they have illegally invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, citing false maps.
These criminal acts of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces should be considered as a joint intention, taking into account that they commit the same acts against the pastors of the border villages of the RA Syunik region as well as the residents of other villages of the RA Gegharkunik region.
The continuous fact-finding work clearly shows that these actions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which grossly violate the rights of the border residents of the Republic of Armenia, are connected with the policy of anti-Armenianism and hostility sponsored by the Azerbaijani authorities.
Today’s incident clearly shows who is really undermining the security of the people in the region and the prospects for restoring peace.
