Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 21.04.21:

• Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan headed on Tuesday to Syunik Province of Armenia in top secrecy.

He was accompanied by a large number of security forces, including nearly 2,000 police officers, and National Security Service (NSS) special division officers.

Syunik province is the most challenging province in Armenia for Pashinyan following the last Nagorno-Karabakh war when some of the territories have been handed over to Azerbaijan.

Some of the villagers have lost their homes and lands. And most of the villages are now bordering Azerbaijan - thus forming dangerous circumstances for the residents.

Since Wednesday morning he started his visit to Syunik province's different towns.

In most of the huge towns, he was greeted with cursing and whistles. Residents were calling him a traitor (VIDEO) https://news.am/eng/news/639941.html

In all of these cities, he walked with the population hearing the people's hate speech towards him.

Once, he got his emotions off as he fired back to a resident who called him a capitulator of the land.

There are reports that Pashinyan has instructed the NSS to arrest all the organizers of these protests against him. There is official information that the criminal case has been initiated over the incident.

• PACE has discussed the Armenian POWs issue on Tuesday afternoon.

Most of the speakers have and urged Azerbaijan to hand over all the prisoners of war and captives to Armenia.

Portuguese delegate Paulo Pisco said Azerbaijan isn’t fulfilling the commitments assumed under the joint statement signed on November 9, 2020.

French delegate Bernard Fournier, in turn, noted that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) called on the sides to implement the provisions of the Geneva Convention during and after the conflict.

Another French delegate Alexandra Louis said the tragedy in Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh] won’t end so long as people are in captivity.

Louis said Armenia respected the agreement over the release of all prisoners of war, while Azerbaijan refused to release nearly 200 Armenian prisoners of war. According to him, this is a clear violation of international law, particularly the Geneva Convention.

Meanwhile, Council of Europe Secretary-General Maria Pejcinovic-Buric called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage in dialogue.

• The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan has responded to the statement by the President of Azerbaijan on "returning to Zangezur after 101 years."

Ilham Aliyev has declared that the creation of the Zangezur corridor is fully in line with the national, historical, and future interests of Azerbaijan.

“We will implement the task to create the Zangezur corridor whether Armenia wants it or not. If Armenia wants it, the issue will be solved easily. If it doesn’t, we will solve the issue by force,” Aliyev told AzTV.

Naghdalyan, in turn, noted: "Such statements seriously harm regional peace and stability. They show that the recent statements of Azerbaijan on peace and reconciliation are false."

• Azerbaijani soldiers continue to fire gunshots near villages of Syunik Province,  Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan noted on his Facebook.

"During the visits to these villages, incidents were recorded by both the locals and the heads of villages. According to them, the shots are heard day and night," he noted.

"The presence of the Azerbaijani military poses a threat to the physical safety of the villagers," Tatoyan added, noting that "the creation of a buffer zone is required for the protection of the rights of the peaceful civilians in Syunik Province."

• The body of an Armenian soldier has been found hanging from a tree.

He was found near the military unit, the Armenian defense ministry reported.

An investigation is underway.

• As of Wednesday morning, 1,033 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 210,518 in the country.

Also, 25 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 3,944 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 583, the total respective number so far is 190,271.

During a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am, spokesperson of the Armenian health ministry Hripsime Khachatryan said a 34-year-old pregnant woman died from COVID-19  - yet failed to provide more details.