CoE Commissioner for Human Rights: “I am well aware of Khojaly”

Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has said that she is well aware of the Khojaly genocide and its victims.

"I am well aware of Khojaly, during my visit to Azerbaijan I met with many victims and listened to them," Mijatovic said while answering the question of Rafael Huseynov, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, as to why the Commissioner's report did not find room for conclusions about these meetings, Azertag reports.

"I could not write in the report about all the meetings. But my report contains separate paragraphs on these issues. As you know, I myself come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am from Sarajevo. So I understand very well what it is like to see injustice. But right now, I want us to look more towards the future. I call on both sides of the conflict to start working together in the name of peace to create a human rights roadmap," she added.

Khojaly is a city in Karabakh, which is mainly associated with the Armenian massacre against innocent civilians on February 26, 1992.

To recap, on the night of February 25-26, 1992, Armenian armed formations with the participation of the 366th regiment of the former Soviet army committed genocide in the town of Khojaly. As a result of this genocide, 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people. 1,275 civilians were taken prisoner and the fate of 150 people is still unknown.

Azerbaijan regained control of the city following the anti-terrorist measures against the separatist junta regime in Karabakh on September 19-20, after 31 years of occupation.