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Public and political activist Edgar Ghazaryan on Monday raised Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the growing number of political prisoners in Armenia at a protest outside the Foreign Ministry amid the ongoing trip of Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić.

"I’d like to ask Ms. Burić the following: is it acceptable that in the 21st century, in the zone of responsibility of the Council of Europe, a medieval dictator [Ilham Aliyev] violates international agreements and principles and attacks an entire people because of their ethnicity, because these people are Armenians, committing a genocide and forcibly displaying the people from their native land?" Ghazaryan said.

The activist stated Azerbaijan’s actions carried out "in coordination with the Armenian authorities" dealt a blow to the European values of the rule of law and protection of human rights.

"I wonder if there is a second CoE member country, where the human rights defender becomes an intelligence officer, while the prosecutor becomes an ombudsperson? Is there a country where a law is adopted in a few minutes by the pro-government faction alone?”

In response to the remark that the EU does not confirm the presence of any political prisoners in Armenia, Edgar Ghazaryan said: "If the incarcerated opposition figures are not political prisoners, why are they in prison? For example, is there anyone in Armenian society who thinks that Armen Ashotyan has committed a crime and should be held behind bars? Obviously, Ashotyan remains in custody exclusively for his political beliefs and party affiliation. Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan, who spat at a citizen and went unpunished, has sued about two dozen political figures, media outlets and reporters, and has won all his lawsuits at least obliging them to apologize to him. Do these actions comply with the modern European standards of freedom of speech and tolerance?”