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International Criminal Court in The Hague
Photo: Mike Corder / AP
A good year after the war in the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia brought the conflict to the UN court in The Hague: Armenia accused its neighboring country Azerbaijan of serious human rights violations at the International Court of Justice.
Azerbaijan is responsible for violence, hatred and racism against Armenians, said the country's legal representatives in The Hague.
The highest UN judges would have to take immediate action against Azerbaijan in order to stop the "spiral of violence and hatred".
Azerbaijan also filed a lawsuit.
This should be negotiated in the next week.
It is not yet known when the court will judge.
Armenia accuses the neighboring country of persecuting and discriminating against Armenians, invoking the UN Convention against Racism. Prisoners of war were tortured and executed. The bodies of killed soldiers have been desecrated. Prisoners of war would not be released despite international obligations, and cultural and religious sites would be destroyed, the legal representatives said. "The perpetrators are supported, encouraged and glorified by the Azerbaijani state authorities."
The background to the legal dispute is the war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been fought over for decades.
More than 6,500 people were killed in the fighting from September 27 to November 9 last year.
With Turkish help, Azerbaijan finally recaptured large parts of the area that had been lost in the early 1990s.
Armenia sees Russia as its protecting power.
anr / dpa