Satellite imagery dated April 4 shows that the destruction of the Ghazanchetsots cemetery in Shusha is complete. This marks the first destruction of a cemetery since the ICJ ordered Azerbaijan to prevent and punish attacks on Armenian cultural heritage.
Damage to the cemetery began in October, as CHW reported in an alert on Nov 27. We told the story of the historic site and the threat it faced. At that point, it was not too late to stop the destruction. But by Dec 2023 it was almost gone.
This is the third cemetery destroyed since the 2020 ceasefire. Four others have been damaged. Bulldozing Armenian burials is an emerging feature of post-war development in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh, disturbing ancestors and erasing inconvenient testimony to belonging and coexistence.
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