The Decision Was Made by Gagik Tsarukyan

The winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) began yesterday. Despite delegates having the option to attend the meeting online due to COVID-19, the Armenian National Assembly delegation went in almost full force. "Given the current situation, there were important meetings," said Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the Bright Armenia party, who held a protest action regarding prisoners of war at the entrance of the hall, holding a placard: "International pressure on Azerbaijan to release Armenian prisoners of war and civilians as soon as possible."

Despite claims that parliamentary diplomacy is at an unprecedented level, the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners of war was not included in the PACE agenda, even though a proposal was made to organize an urgent discussion on the matter. Regarding the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), there is no official information on why Nayira Zohrabyan and Mikhail Melkumyan did not travel to Strasbourg, but sources say that the boycott was of a more political nature, perhaps decided by Gagik Tsarukyan that they would not participate.

Moreover, we learned from government sources that it is possible that Zohrabyan will soon be excluded from the Armenian delegation in PACE, using a new parliamentary "tool." This will be manifested by the newly formed ethics committee examining Zohrabyan's past "misconduct," and based on the violations noted in the deputy's behavior, the Assembly president may remove her from the delegation.

And although Ararat Mirzoyan did not participate in the vote to deprive Zohrabyan of the chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee days ago, it was Prime Minister Pashinyan who instructed this be done, as "Zohrabyan’s speeches concerning Azerbaijan could harm the work of the 'peace platform' with Azerbaijan; it is not excluded that this platform will be brought back to the agenda soon." Our source believes that Ararat Mirzoyan will execute the order," reports the newspaper "Hraparak."