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The opposition Armenia faction on Wednesday proposed to hold parliamentary hearings involving relatives of captured and missing Armenian soldiers after Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s comments about prisoners of war (POWs) sparked uproar and protests in the capital.

The proposal was announced by Armenia faction secretary Artsvik Minasyan at the beginning of today’s parliament sitting.

Alen Simonyan came under fire after calling Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan deserters. In a scandalous video recording which emerged online on Tuesday, he can be heard saying that many of them “laid down their arms, ran away and got lost”, ending up in captivity. “Those POWs don’t exist for me anymore,” he said.

“There are numerous hero soldiers in the Armenian army, but unfortunately, there are soldiers, including officers, who failed to perform their duties and were taken prisoner,” Simonyan said at a news conference later.

A group of relatives of captives and missing soldiers staged a protest outside the government building on Tuesday evening. They blocked traffic on the streets leading to the Republic Square, demanding that the speaker be held accountable for his comments.

"Given the demands and indignation of the relatives of POWs and missing soldiers, and the gathering of our compatriots near the National Assembly today, we propose to make a consensus decision on holding a hearing after the Q&A session with the government, inviting Nikol Pashinyan, defense, foreign ministers, the National Security Service chief, as well as representatives of the relatives to give answers to the questions raised,” Minasyan said, addressing lawmakers.