Lenka Klicperová

On September 27, 2020, with the backing of Turkey, Azerbaijan invaded the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave that had been under Armenian control for the past 30 years. It was meant to be a lightning assault, yet the Armenians managed to defend themselves for 44 days. The brutal fighting, which the soldiers described as a massacre, ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire. The war claimed the lives of about 10,000 soldiers and 146 civilians on both sides. Thousands are still missing. Numerous war crimes were committed during the conflict. The Armenians lost 80% of Karabakh and the surrounding territories. The ceasefire ended the fighting, but not the human suffering. Tens of thousands of Armenians lost their homes and thousands of soldiers have lost their limbs. Evidence that Azerbaijani forces tortured civilians is growing. Lenka Klicperová and Markéta Kutilová went to Karabakh on the first day of the assault, and were thus the first Czech journalists to enter the combat zone. At the end of the war, they returned to the area and crossed the border into Karabakh on the first day of the ceasefire. They witnessed the burning of Karabakh villages and the arrival of Russian soldiers. In January 2021, they made a third trip to the area during which they collected statements from civilians about the war crimes committed by Azerbaijanis. Their book is a comprehensive testimony to the horrors of modern war.