Accountability for War Crimes Can Bring Peace and Reconciliation

October 2022 marked the sad, two-year anniversary of the wanton missile attacks by Armenia against peaceful Azerbaijani cities during the 44-day Karabakh War in 2020, with Ganja city and Barda being among the most affected targets. The second-largest city in Azerbaijani, Ganja was attacked using Tochka-U and, later, SCUD ballistic missiles on October 11, 2020, the very night that the humanitarian ceasefire took effect. Azerbaijan also reported the shelling of cities such as Tartar, Barda, Mingachevir, Aghjabedi, and Beylaghan. However, Ganja became a textbook example of war crimes against peaceful civilians. The missiles used against Ganja were of high destructive capacity and their use against civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law. These attacks were confirmed as having been launched directly from Armenian territory on October 11 and 16–17, 2020, killing and injuring dozens of civilians alongside causing significant destruction to civilian infrastructure.