UN court orders Azerbaijan to end Nagorno-Karabakh roadblock

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ highest court has ordered Azerbaijan to remove a roadblock from the only road between Armenia and the ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. The blockade has further fueled tensions between the two countries. The legally binding 13-2 ruling issued by the International Court of Justice on Wednesday results from the latest legal skirmishes in a long feud between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. It comes just over two years after the neighboring nations ended a war in Nagorno-Karabakh that killed about 6,800 soldiers and displaced around 90,000 civilians. Armenia’s lawyers argued last month that the roadblock set up by protesters claiming to be environmental activists was part of an alleged “ethnic cleansing” campaign.