Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will hold a debate during Wednesday’s plenary session of the European Parliament about Azerbaijan’s unlawful detention of Armenian POWs, Armenpress reports.

The debate of the item titled “Unlawful detention and sham trials of Armenian hostages, including high-ranking political representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijan” will take place on Wednesday as part of debates on human rights and democracy violations, and a vote will be held the following day under urgent debate/resolution procedures.

Last week, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Armenpress that MEPs could initiate urgent debates regarding the alarming reports of torture and ill-treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and other captives in Azerbaijani custody.

Azerbaijan has officially acknowledged that it is holding 23 Armenian prisoners despite a post-war obligation to release all POWs and detainees.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had earlier described the Azerbaijani trial as “mock trials.”

The detainees include former top officials of Nagorno-Karabakh such as the former presidents Bako Sahakyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, as well as former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan.

The former officials are all facing fabricated charges in what many experts and officials have described as sham trials.

Vardanyan, whose case has been separated from the others, recently announced a hunger strike in protest of the sham trial. In a statement, he called on world leaders and the international community to interfere.

Jared Genser, Vardanyan’s lawyer, recently said that his client’s health is in danger.