Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the NA "Prosperous Armenia" parliamentary faction and a member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, addressed the issue of Armenian prisoners of war being held in Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan started a war on September 27 with the direct participation of Turkey, which has one of NATO's largest armies, and with the involvement of international terrorist groups. That war was unprecedented in the use of weapons prohibited by all international conventions, targeting civilian settlements, infrastructure and cultural sites, chemical weapons. That was unprecedented also in terms of inhuman cruelty to prisoners of war.
As a result of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan, tens of thousands of Artsakh Armenians were displaced from their homes, and what is this, if not a humanitarian catastrophe? What the Aliyev-Erdogan duo did in this war is a clear war crime with all international legal regulations and should be recognized as such.
The captured Armenian servicemen must be released immediately and returned to Armenia, and this must be done without any preconditions. Both during and after the cessation of hostilities, Azerbaijan consistently violates international human rights requirements and humanitarian agreements.
I ask the Council of Europe to use its mandate and do its best to return the Armenian prisoners of war to their homeland. I am addressing you on behalf of thousands of Armenian mothers. Every day in the captivity of Azerbaijan reduces the chances of the Armenian soldiers to survive, because we are dealing with a murderous state", Zohrabyan said in particular in her speech.
