In order to save the lives of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians being held in Azerbaijan and to make their future exchange possible, I petitioned today to the president and the two vice presidents of the Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).  Edmon Marukyan, chairman of the opposition Bright Armenia Party and head of its parliamentary faction, on Wednesday wrote this on Facebook.

"(...) urging [them] to organize an urgent visit to Azerbaijan to investigate and prevent the cases of possible inhumane and degrading treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in prisons and other closed facilities.

Let me remind that the CoE Committee for the Prevention of Torture is the only body that can freely enter any closed facility in Azerbaijan," Marukyan added.

On November 9, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement on a complete cessation of hostilities— which Azerbaijan had launched on September 27—in and around Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Accordingly, Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the region to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities. But this statement also stipulates the handover of part of Artsakh lands to Azerbaijan.