OUR Armenia accused Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing” through the blockade of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh during today’s hearings at the International Criminal Court.

Rival former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, which clashed in a brief war in 2020, have asked the International Criminal Court in The Hague to intervene in the conflict.

Since mid-December, Azeris posing as environmental activists protesting what they call illegal Armenian mining have blocked the road, the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Due to the blockade, the mountainous region of about 120,000 people is deprived of food, medicine and fuel.

Yerevan claims that the protests are inspired by Baku.

“Such blatant acts of ethnic cleansing have no place in our modern times, and this Court is the last hope of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.“, – said the representative of Armenia in the ICC Yeghise Kirakosyan.

“It seems that Azerbaijan has every intention to strangle people of Armenian origin“regardless of the loss of life,” he added.

Baku responded that Armenia’s accusations were “groundless.”