YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Social media stickers depicting the tortured and mutilated bodies of killed Armenian troops and civilians have been created through chat bots in the Azerbaijani Telegram social media dimension, the former Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said.

He said that these stickers were launched on September 14, 2022 – one day after Azerbaijan launched the deadly attack on Armenia – and were discovered on September 18.  These stickers were widely accessible.

“We’ve separated 119 pictures, that is 119 stickers, which had more than 20,000 downloads in 5 days,” Tatoyan said.

“Through the efforts of an expert who’s been supporting us, Telegram blocked this [download], but it is obvious that the Azerbaijani platforms will use this new tool to terrorize and mock the Armenian society,” Tatoyan added, noting that photos of atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani troops against Armenians both during the 2020 war and the 2022 September 13-15 attack were used.

“Our study shows that Azerbaijani social media users who’ve downloaded these stickers were greatly excited to have the opportunity to use photos of the torture and mutilations of dead Armenian servicemen and civilians in their chats. This criminal act is new evidence that the state-sanctioned Armenophobia in Azerbaijan over many years has deep roots in the Azerbaijani society and the peace-loving calls by the Azerbaijani government are simply a veil for the eyes of the international community to cover up their real intentions,” Tatoyan said.