The US Azeris Network (USAN) appealed to the US Congress to condemn the actions of the Armenian authorities in respect of the Moldovan Ombudsman Aurelia Grigoriu.

Recently, during a report at Armenian Parliament Aurelia Grigoriu stated that the Khojaly genocide was committed by the Armenians, and this is an internationally recognized fact.

After her speech in Armenian parliament the Moldovan Ombudsman was not let out from Armenia. She was kept in isolation and her life was threatened, Grigoriu’s close friend Todur Zanet, who kept contact with her, told Trend.

Grigoriu managed to leave Yerevan, thanks to the help diplomatic missions accredited in Yerevan, without apologizes, that were demanded by the Armenian side. Currently, she is in Chisinau.

The appeal reads that in fact the Armenian authorities blackmailed the Ombudsman of a foreign country through intimidation, persecution, death threats, all of which are state terrorism.

The USAN members underscored the importance of reducing the total assistance to Armenia, as well as the need for the White House, the State Department and the U.S. Congress to urge Armenia to fulfill its responsibility, reconcile itself with its history and recognize the Khojaly genocide.

“Armenia has once again shown a total disregard of Western values,” the appeal reads. “And this, in spite of the US aid amounting to more than $2 billion in 1992.”

The members of the organization also noted that it is necessary for Congress and the US administration to pay great attention to the facts of the Armenian aggression and occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Late into the night of February 25, 1992, the town of Khojaly, situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intensive fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian armed forces. The Armenian forces, supported by the ex-Soviet 366th regiment, completed the surrounding of the town already isolated due to ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani population of the neighboring regions. The joint forces occupied the town, which was ruined by heavy artillery shelling.

Thousands of fleeing civilians were ambushed by the Armenian forces. Punitive teams of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh defense army reached the unprotected civilians to slaughter them, mutilating some of the bodies. 613 civilians, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children, were killed in the massacre. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, and 25 children lost both parents, while 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.

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