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On November 4, the Head of the RA NA With Honor Faction Artur Vanetsyan, the Secretary of the Faction met with the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia Kimmo Kiljunen and Boriana Åberg.

Artur Vanetsyan spoke about the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan. The Head of the Faction drew the attention to the fact that Turkey also took part in the war. Artur Vanetsyan considered urgent the issue of the immediate return of the Armenian captives being kept in Azerbaijan, which was fixed by the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. In this context, the support of all international colleagues was highlighted – to force Azerbaijan to return the captives.

Touching upon the security problems, the parliamentarians have expressed concern about the aspirations and use of force by Azerbaijan towards the sovereign territories of Armenia, the anti-Armenian campaign, which do not promote the establishment of peace in the region.

The MPs expressed their positions on the ongoing processes in the inner-political life of the country after the snap parliamentary elections. It has been noted that two opposition deputies are in prison, and criminal cases are filed against a considerable number of deputies from the NA two opposition factions. According to Artur Vanetsyan, the authorities try to make silent the political adversaries with criminal cases, as well as restrict those deputies’ free move, in other words, impede them to leave for business trips stemming from the parliamentary activities.

At the guests’ request, Artur Vanetsyan and Hayk Mamijanyan referred to the issues regarding the electoral reforms in our country, the judicial system, the independence of the mass media and the concerning restrictions on the freedom of speech.