Deputy Speaker denies opposition’s claims on not dealing with release of POWs

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan from the ruling Civil Contract party has denied the opposition’s accusations of insufficient actions by the authorities for the release of Armenian POWs unlawfully held in Azerbaijan.

In response to opposition MPs Armen Rustamyan and Artur Khachatryan’s claims that the Armenian authorities are not raising the issue of the release of POWs, Rubinyan said that the Armenian government’s position on this matter has always been very clear.

Rubinyan said, “Mr. Rustamyan says Armenia’s stance regarding the prisoners is unclear. All our diplomatic representatives, in all their statements, in all their actions, are stressing the need for the return of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees to Armenia. Mr. Rustamyan, what is unclear here? Mr. Khachatryan says the government is silent. Mr. Rustamyan, when we were in Rome in the PACE, was the item about the return of POWs included as a result of my silence or non-silence?”

Hundreds of POWs have returned to Armenia in various stages since 2020, Rubinyan added.

“Was the parliament adopting some statements before the phases when they were returning? It seems to me that the opposition is doing the following, you came here, you decided to capitalize the issue of prisoners for political goals, you don’t have any other topic left. But actually the return of the Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees depends not on this session or an adopted statement, but Armenia’s diplomatic work on the level of the government and parliament,” Rubinyan said.

The two opposition factions of parliament, Hayastan and Pativ Unem, convened on Tuesday an urgent debate on Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan. The opposition factions submitted a draft statement for adoption but it failed to pass because the ruling Civil Contract faction refused to participate in the vote. The statement garnered only 30 votes from the opposition. Deputy Speaker Rubinyan accused the opposition of using the topic for political goals.