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The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt avoided total humiliation on October 9 - on the first day of the PACE autumn session, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, MP Naira Zohrabyan told in an interview to Panorama.am.

“The corrupt lobbyists should have no place in reputable international structures. October 9 was expected to become the last nail into the coffin of Argument’s political activity, therefor he resigned at the recommendation of his political doctors (I am sure he has no health problems except the one related to morality) to escape the final accord of humiliation. However, as the saying goes, this is the beginning of the end, as the Pandora’s box is now open.  We see a clear socio-political demand emerging in European structures to investigate all the minor and big actors involved in the “Azerbaijani Laundromat” by President Ilham Aliyev and to hold them accountable,” Zohrabyan said.

The Armenian lawmaker pointed to the case of the Belgian MP Alain Destexhe who resigned from PACE due to the involvement in the Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal and for being “Aliyev’s loyal client” after the relevant reports came under the spotlight of the European media.

“People like Agramunt are everywhere, yet they will undoubtedly carry responsibility. The independent commission set up by the June 27 PACE resolution will be able to investigate the actions of people like Agramunt and uncover Aliyev’s dark deals,” added Zohrabyan.

To remind, Agramunt has been the target of substantial criticism following his decision unauthorized trip to Syria, along with two other PACE members, and meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. On June 27, the PACE adopted a resolution, which made certain amendments in the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly. The PACE initiated the above-mentioned amendments to dismiss President Pedro Agramunt, since the latter has lost his confidence in the Assembly, failing to submit resignation voluntarily.

Zohrabyan next insisted the Council of Europe should initiate the process of kicking off Azerbaijan from the Council of Europe.

“Days ago, at a meeting with members of the EU Political and Security Committee President Aliyev declared that if Azerbaijan leaves the Council of Europe, noone will pay any attention to that, nothing will change in their lives and they will not become any better or worse, richer or poorer. Imagine such a statement from the head of a member state to CoE. After all this shouldn’t we initiate the issue of expulsion of Azerbaijan from the organization?” Zohrabyan concluded.