Monument Watch: Azerbaijanis loot houses in village of Tsamdzor in  Nagorno-Karabakh 

ArmInfo. The damage to houses in the village of Tsamdzor is a consequence of large-scale looting and deliberate damage to the property of Armenians in occupied  Artsakh by Azerbaijanis. This is stated in the Monument Watch report,  based on new satellite images that recorded the destruction in the  village of Tsamdzor.

According to the data, back in 2020, the village was safe and sound,  and judging by the satellite images, serious destruction appeared  since August 2021. "Analysis of satellite photographs taken in  February 2025 confirms that the Azerbaijani side destroyed a  significant part of residential buildings in the village of Tsamdzor  in the Hadrut region of occupied Artsakh. The looting is carried out  mainly by military personnel located in this territory, as well as  construction groups," the publication emphasizes.

According to Monument Watch, Azerbaijan's actions since 2021 have  left many homes in Tsamdzor roofless. There are no signs of heavy  machinery, indicating a gradual and systematic looting of the  village.  Satellite images also show that the Surb Astvatsatsin  church remains intact, but it is noted that it is at risk of  destruction given the general state of the village.

In this vein, the Monument Watch report emphasizes that the  destruction of the village of Tsamdzor in the Hadrut region  constitutes a series of interconnected crimes committed by Azerbaijan  both during the war and throughout the occupation. These actions  violate international norms of cultural heritage preservation and the  principles of authenticity and integrity established by UNESCO, as  well as decisions of the International Court of Justice, including  the 1965 International Court of Justice's decision on violations of  the Convention on All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

"The destruction of village houses and cultural property is also  considered a serious violation of the laws and customs of the Rome  Statute applicable in international armed conflicts (Article 8, part  2, paragraphs B and E)," the report explains.

It is also emphasized that the destruction of the village may be  qualified as genocide under international law, since the problem of  genocide is also considered in the context of the destruction of  cultural heritage sites. In this regard, an excerpt from the guide to  the analysis of the provisions of the Rome Statute on cultural  heritage is provided: "Crimes against or affecting cultural heritage  are often associated with or committed in the context of genocide,  involving acts aimed at the physical destruction of members of the  group in whole or in part. They include murder, serious bodily or  mental injury, deliberately creating poor living conditions,  deliberately preventing births within the group, and deliberately  forcibly transferring children from one group to another."

Back in the summer of 2024, the Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW)  organization in its 7th report on the situation around Artsakh  signaled a 75% increase in cases of destruction of Armenian heritage  in the occupied territories of the NKR by Azerbaijan, and a 29%  increase in the number of objects classified as under threat. Let us  recall that on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of  an "anti-terrorist operation", committed another act of aggression  against Artsakh. This was preceded by an almost 10-month blockade of  the unrecognized republic. Since the enemy aggression that began in  the fall of 2020, which in September 2023 ended in the complete  ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh residents have  lost their homeland and become refugees.