Richardas Lapaitis is one of a handful of foreign correspondents who know the truth about the Karabakh war firsthand. Richardas was an eyewitness to the bloody military events in Lachin, Nakhchivan and Aghdam. His camera recorded the tragic consequences of the Khojaly genocide. During 30 years of occupation of Azerbaijani territories, Richardas Lapaitis stayed in close contact with Azerbaijan, with its IDPs and refugees, among whom he had many friends. He has been a voice for the truth about this brutal war. Richardas says that he knows and has seen the truth, which is why he could not remain silent, because remaining silent, as Richardas notes, is tantamount to being on the side of evil. After the Khojaly genocide, Richardas realized that he was obliged to make a film about the most horrific page of the Karabakh war – Khojaly. He did not consider his film “Endless Corridor” as some kind of a feat: “This is a human return, a small candle in memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide. I do hope that at the end of the corridor there will be light, and that justice will prevail. And justice did prevail in the 44-day Patriotic War, in which Azerbaijan dealt a crushing blow to the enemy, liberated its lands and won a brilliant victory! Our interview with Richardas took place on the eve of local anti-terrorist measures carried out in Karabakh by the courageous Azerbaijani Army under the leadership of victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev. Richardas called me immediately after the end of the campaign was over.
- I want to tell you that I was a little worried about the future situation in Karabakh and the separatists operating there before, but the anti-terror measures showed that Karabakh has finally returned home, victory has finally come home, and all those filtration camps where innocent Azerbaijanis were subjected to terrible torture for 30 years are over. The end has come to all those ideas of Dashnaks who wanted to create a “state” on the bones and blood of innocent people. The end has come to ethnic cleansing, the atrocities that were committed throughout the occupied territory. Look what they did to the historical and cultural monuments of Azerbaijan, to its holy places. Everything was destroyed, no stone was left of the once prosperous towns and villages. Therefore, I would like to congratulate the Azerbaijani people on the deserved victory from the bottom of my heart, especially President Ilham Aliyev, for taking a timely decision to stop this evil. At last, a pseudo-state within the state has disappeared, historical and international law has been restored. The long-awaited peace has come to the land of Azerbaijan. All of Kalbajar will be opened, the roadblocks near Aghdam and other places will finally be removed. This region will prosper again. And the Armenians who want to live peacefully will be able to live in Azerbaijan under the flag and Constitution of Azerbaijan. This Victory will forever go down in the history of Azerbaijan.
