Armenian government blocks access to Justice for Khojaly Web site

An Armenian Facebook user left the following comments on Facebook: (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/
Khojaly-town/Justice-for-Khojaly-Campaign/101823787520?ref=mf) "I have high-speed Internet, but I faced a ban while trying to visit this Web site. I tried to go to this site from different places in Armenia, unfortunately, I faced the same problem.”

In a statement released today Justice for Khojaly campaign expressed concerns over the fact that Armenian population, particularly young people, face blocked access to Web sites, which is a clear violation of freedom of expression and the commitment of Armenia to the basic principles of human rights.

Admin of Facebook page of Justice for Khojaly campaign Elmaddin Mehdiyev said the following in an interview to Day.Az: “We are studying this issue. Indeed, access to the site http://www.justiceforkhojaly.org in Armenia has been blocked . Moreover, rumors in the Armenia Internet community have it that  we have blocked the Web site.

The following facts prove that this is another provocation by Armenian authorities. As it is known, the Web site has been launched by campaign activists in the United States. Since February 2009, about 15,000 visitors from 101 countries worldwide  got familiar with this website. The point is that restricting access to the Web site from the territory of Azerbaijan is technically impossible.

Moreover, Yerevan activists failed to take into consideration that one of the announced objectives of the campaign is to bring the truth about the Khojaly tragedy to the attention of Armenian society, so the ban on this Web site by its launchers would be an unreasonable step. Based on these facts, as well as the expertise of ICT specialists, one can say with certainty that only the current Armenian authorities who have direct relevance to the Khojaly massacre, could prohibit the dissemination of accurate information in their own country. We call on the youth organizations of the world to express their protest against the Armenian government as well as inform that appropriate technical announcement  will be posted to the Web site soon in connection with this violation.”

Justice for Khojaly Campaign aims to bring the truth about the Khojaly massacre to the attention of the world community. Currently, Justice for Khojaly is exploring the possibility of creating an alternative channel to let the Armenian public to gain access to the Web site.  

Khojaly massacre was the most brutal massacres in the Caucasus and a crime against humanity committed by Armenian armed forces against the civilian population in the small town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on February 26, 1992. As a result, about 1 million people became refugees and internally displaced, 20, 000 were killed, 50 000 were disabled and 5,100 were taken prisoners.

The declaration of the campaign (http://www.justiceforkhojaly.org/?p=signup) calls on the international community to make efforts for the peaceful settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of international law as well as take necessary measures to bring the instigators of the massacres to justice.

Justice for Khojaly campaign