Ombudsman wants National Security Council secretary to answer 4 questions regarding customs and border checkpoints on Kapan-Goris road

YEREVAN, November 11. /ARKA/. In a harsh Facebook comment on Armenian Security Council’s secretary Armen Grigoryan’s announcement that Azerbaijan and Armenia will set up border and customs checkpoints on a section of Kapan-Goris highway, human rights defender Arman Tatoyan says instead of legitimizing the presence of Azerbaijani forces on a road that connects north of Armenia with its south and also with Iran, the authorities in Yerevan should work to remove Azeris from that road.
Tatoyan asks the Security Council Secretary 4 questions.
1. How do you imagine the free and safe movement of people and goods along the Goris-Kapan road going through Azerbaijani border and customs control?
2. Do you realize that border and customs control imply the restriction of the rights of citizens of the Republic of Armenia by the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan, who can subject Armenian citizens to fines, initiate criminal cases against them, detain and arrest, search them, etc.
3. How will residents of Armenian neighboring villages or foreigners traveling along the Goris-Kapan road defend their rights (for example, to whom they should apply to in case of violation of their rights and what kind of procedures they will have to go through); how these people imagine the application of Azerbaijani legislation in relation to them?
4. How will the responsibility and punishment of the border and customs authorities of Azerbaijan for violation of these rights be ensured?
P.S. In fact, the presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces, law enforcement agencies and, above all, their actions on the roads of Armenia are initially illegal lacking a legal basis.
After the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone on November 9, 2020, more than 190 settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent seven regions came under the control of Azerbaijan.
As a result, the borders of the Syunik region in the south of Armenia and the Gegharkunik region in the east appeared in close proximity to the Soviet-time border of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani forces have set up a police checkpoint on a section of the road between Goris and Kapan.
The checkpoint is on a section of a strategic road that connects Armenia with Iran. Armenian forces had pulled out of that road section after the end of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh last autumn.
Now Azerbaijani forces control a 21-kilometer stretch of the highway. The other sections of the highway, which is Armenia’s sole transport link with Iran are patrolled by Russian soldiers and border guards. -0-