“I welcome the fact of the recent exchange of prisoners of war,” said the General Secretary of the Council of Europe (COE) Marija Pejčinović Burić in response to the question of Ruben Rubinyan, head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, during the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

During the question-and-answer session with the Secretary General of the CE, Ruben Rubinyan, stating that Maria Peychinonich Burich knows very well about the consequences of the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan against Armenia in September, stated:

“There are effective instruments and mechanisms established by the convention and statute to require member states to fully comply with their obligations. What prevents this organization from taking targeted and effective steps to curb the aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan, which leads to gross violations of human rights and the suffering of people who are under the protection of the European Convention on Human Rights?

The General Secretary of the Council of Europe also stated that he made some statements regarding the conflicts and the various stages of their escalation and continued. “Also, our other bodies of the Council of Europe reacted at different levels, in different situations, including the European Court, applying an intermediate measure and asking for the exchange of prisoners of war.” The General Secretary of the CE, referring to the recommendations of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the CE, stated:

“The Commissioner for Human Rights has made clear recommendations regarding gross violations of human rights from his point of view, so I can only agree with his statements in this regard. I think humanitarian gestures should be very welcome for all prisoners. I welcome the recent exchange of prisoners of war. I also welcome high-level meetings and encourage their holding. In fact, some meetings took place recently. This is actually what we always ask from our member countries, who, joining our organization, committed themselves to solve their problems in a peaceful way.”