Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan, in a statement released today, says that the Zod Wind company has incurred US$5 million in losses because Azerbaijani troops have taken over a 200- hectare tract of land in Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province and are using it to fire on the nearby Sotk gold mine.

Tatoyan says the Armenian government leased the land to Zod Wind for thirty years.

The Sotk mine, located along the new border separating Armenia and Azerbaijan, has since been contested by both countries.

In November of last year, a top Armenian defense official confessed that half the mine was under Azerbaijani military control given the new border.

Photo: Sotk village