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Swedish lawmaker Boriana Åberg, spokesperson for the EPP/CD, one of the largest political groups in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), says she is “still haunted” by the Azerbaijani atrocities against Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), stressing those responsible for war crimes must be held to account.

Her comments came at a PACE debate on “Military hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia, including strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructures” on Monday. Below is the MP's full statement.

"President, Dear Colleagues,

A few days ago I received a video showing a horrible execution of a woman, an Armenian prisoner of war. I am still haunted by these atrocious scenes and the inhumane cruelty taking place. It's not the only video where such dreadful evil occurs.

Since the large scale military aggression against the territorial integrity of Armenia launched by the armed forces of Azerbaijan, numerous videos have been publicised by Azerbaijani users on social media.

These videos demonstrate war crimes, horrible scenes of the killing of Armenian prisoners of war, the torture of Armenian servicemen, including women, and the desecration of human corpses.

The reaction from the international community was unequivocal. The European Union, US, France, Germany, and several other countries expressed a clear demand for a full and impartial investigation of these brutal executions.

Our position is clear: those responsible for war crimes must be held to account. We noted that the military prosecutors office in Azerbaijan has initiated a comprehensive investigation.

Madam President, Dear Colleagues,

Today's debate is very timely and needed because the situation in the South Caucasus remains very tense and alarming.

We have a situation where one member State of this organisation attacks another member State. Any ignorance from us will enable new violence, new atrocities.

On 13 September, we witnessed aggression against Armenia, which resulted in the ongoing occupation of the sovereign territories of Armenia, horrendous sufferings, human losses on both sides, and a large scale destruction of civilian infrastructure in Armenia.

The use of force or greater force is becoming the new normalcy, which is absolutely unacceptable.

As Josep Borrell said recently responding to MEPs questions, the fact of the matter is that Azerbaijan has bombarded and occupied part of Armenian territory, adding that Azerbaijani forces must be withdrawn from those border areas.

We urge Azerbaijan to withdraw its armed forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia and to return to positions held prior to this escalation.

We call on Azerbaijan to cease any action that could further aggravate the already terrible situation on the ground.

If I may quote Antony Blinken, who said, 'There cannot be military solutions to the conflict. Diplomacy is the only way forward'."