YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will raise the issues of the Azeri war crimes in the 2020 Artsakh war, and the Armenian prisoners of war whom Azerbaijan is refusing to repatriate long after hostilities ended. 

“The priority is naturally the latest Artsakh War and the issues of its consequences which should be voiced there, to be able to consolidate all our international partners to increase pressure on Azerbaijan and to achieve the return of the prisoners of war and detained civilians. We will also speak about the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan and all what’s taken place so far,” Armenian lawmakers Edmon Marukyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, told ARMENPRESS.

A discussion on the war is scheduled in the monitoring commission, not during the plenary session, but Marukyan says they will raise these issues in their remarks at the plenary session as well.

“I hope we will be able to do a good job there despite the fact that a curfew is in place in France and there are numerous problems due to the coronavirus restrictions,” Marukyan said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming PACE winter sitting (January 25-28) in Strasbourg will take place in a hybrid mode, i.e. lawmakers can chose whether or not they want to take part physically or remotely. The Armenian delegation chose to participate in person.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan