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Artur Vanetsyan, head of the opposition With Honor faction in the Armenian parliament, and its secretary Hayk Mamijanyan on Thursday met with Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland, SOC) and Boriana Åberg (Sweden, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia.

Vanetsyan spoke about the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh last year. He called attention to the fact that Turkey also took part in the war. Vanetsyan highlighted the urgency for the immediate return of Armenian captives being kept in Azerbaijan, which was fixed by the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. In this context, the support of all international colleagues was highlighted – to force Azerbaijan to return the captives, the press service of the parliament reported.

Touching upon the security problems, the parliamentarians expressed concern about the aspirations and use of force by Azerbaijan towards the sovereign territory of Armenia, the anti-Armenian campaign, which do not promote the establishment of peace in the region.

The MPs expressed their positions on the ongoing domestic political processes after the snap parliamentary elections. It was noted that two opposition deputies are in prison, and criminal cases are filed against a considerable number of deputies from the two opposition factions. According to Artur Vanetsyan, the authorities try to silence their opponents with criminal cases, as well as to restrict the opposition deputies’ free movement, i.e. to prevent them from leaving for business trips stemming from their parliamentary activities.

At the guests’ request, Artur Vanetsyan and Hayk Mamijanyan referred to the issues regarding the electoral reforms in the country, the judicial system, the independence of the mass media and the concerning restrictions on the freedom of speech.