The Azerbaijani authorities previously claimed that the video was a forgery.
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On October 15, two videos were published in the “Telegram” application on Azerbaijani channels.
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The first shows Azerbaijani soldiers being held captive by two Armenians, while the second shows people dressed in the same clothes as prisoners being executed in public.
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A video of the execution of two Armenians by people allegedly connected with the Azerbaijani army has spread on the networks. The BBC and Bellingcat independently examined the video and confirmed its authenticity. The Azerbaijani authorities call the video a fake.https://t.co/hZ6PjqejTu pic.twitter.com/KmewA4tnyE
– Radio Svoboda (@SvobodaRadio) October 24, 2020
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Soon after the videos became popular, they began to disappear from the Telegram.
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The BBC and Bellingcat say they have managed to find out the geolocation of the video.
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The first was taken in the northern suburbs of Hadrut in the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the second in a park in the southern part of the city.
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The video shows soldiers who receive Armenians in captivity speak Russian with the prisoners, but in Azerbaijani, Bellingcat reports.
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The video is heard by the Azerbaijani team: “Aim for the head!” Shots are heard and then the male bodies are limping, the video featured describes the BBC.
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Imprisonment of prisoners is a war crime, according to the BBC.
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Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: ‘Execution’ video prompts war crime probe https://t.co/VeXlUExdI0
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 24, 2020
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The broadcaster has approached the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the Council of Europe, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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Armenian authorities have identified the prisoners as 73-year-old Benik Hakobyan and 25-year-old Yuri Adamyan.
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Intense fighting resumed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on September 27.
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Azerbaijani forces are reportedly being assisted by Turkish armed forces officers and Turkish-organized Syrian militants.
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There have been hostile relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the 1990s, when there was a war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian population.
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Nagorno-Karabakh, which was part of the Azerbaijani SSR during the Soviet era, has been a “de facto” independent Armenian republic since the early 1990s. Although Azerbaijan has not controlled Nagorno-Karabakh since the collapse of the USSR, it considers the Armenian region to be its territory. Nagorno-Karabakh is also considered by the international community to be part of Azerbaijan, and no country has recognized the region as an independent state.
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