Some Azerbaijani Telegram channels have circulated photographs from the occupied city of Martuni in Artsakh showing the targeting and damage of the St. Nerses the Great Church. The photographs show that the church, located in the city center, has sustained damage over the past two years: its windows are broken, and there are traces of gunfire.

The church and its surrounding area had already been deliberately targeted by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the 44-day war of 2020, when the city of Martuni was relentlessly shelled. Shells also landed and exploded in the immediate vicinity of the church, as evidenced by the marks on the church’s southern façade. It should be noted that the church was built in 2004 by benefactor Alice Ohanyan.

Our Response

The principal provision concerning the protection of cultural property is formulated in Article 4 of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict: “The States are obliged to respect cultural property situated within their own territory as well as within the territory of other parties by refraining from acts of hostility and reprisals.” (Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 1954, Article 4, UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/armed-conflict-and-heritage/convention-and-protocols/1954-hague-convention/).

The prohibition on targeting cultural property during wars/armed conflicts is also enshrined in international humanitarian rules that have the status of customary law, meaning that they are internationally binding. Rule 38 of international humanitarian law states: “Each party to the conflict must respect cultural property and take all necessary measures to avoid attacks on buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, education or charitable purposes and historic monuments, unless they are military objectives.” Customary IHL, Practice Relating to Rule 38, Attacks against Cultural Property: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_be_rule38.

Rule 40 further complements this by stating that every party to a conflict must protect cultural heritage: “Any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism directed against, property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people are prohibited.” Customary IHL Rule 40, Respect for Cultural Property: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule40.

According to Article 7 of the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention, adopted in 1999, in order to avoid damaging cultural property during an attack, parties to a conflict are required to:
a) do everything feasible to verify that the objectives to be attacked are not cultural property protected under Article 4 of the 1954 Convention;
b) take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event minimizing, incidental damage to cultural property;
c) refrain from deciding to launch any attack that may be expected to cause incidental damage to cultural property;
d) cancel or suspend an attack if it becomes apparent that the objective is cultural property and that the attack may be expected to cause incidental damage to it that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/hague-prot-1999/article-7?activeTab=undefined

Monument Watch, “Monitoring of Artsakh’s Cultural Heritage” academic platform