YEREVAN. – If my proposal to take certain measures to draw the attention of the PACE member states to the issue of forcible detention of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in Azerbaijan was rejected by the head of the Armenian delegation and not implemented, I would definitely have criticized the actions of our head. Edmon Marukyan—a member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, chairman of the opposition Bright Armenia Party and head of its parliamentary faction—stated this at Tuesday’s press conference in the National Assembly, commenting on the criticism of the work and actions by Ruben Rubinyan—head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, and an MP of the ruling My Step bloc.

According to Marukyan, before their trip to Europe for the PACE session, he had made a proposal to his teammates to petition to the PACE leadership to hold possible debates on the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. "Everyone decided it was necessary to do it, but at the same time we knew that we would be denied," he said.

But the MP assured that despite the rejection, in general, the Armenian lawmakers at PACE had managed to fulfill the task set before them, albeit in some other formats. "In particular, the Armenian delegation succeeded in raising this issue and making it being heard; and that was the task," Edmon Marukyan concluded.