PACE to discuss Armenian POWs issue, almost 200 Armenians get AstraZeneca vaccine, 19.04.21 digest

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 19.04.21

The issue of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan is on the agenda of the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The issue will be discussed tomorrow.

The POWs issue was voted on by the PACE because the head of the Azerbaijani delegation Samad Seyidov had submitted an objection. He noted that it would have a destabilizing implication for the region.

132 delegates took part in the discussion of the issue, 93 delegates voted for, 21—against, and 18 abstained from voting.

Armenian human rights chief Arman Tatoyan noted that the number of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan is higher than Baku confirmed.

In an official letter to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the Council of Europe and the UN Commissioners for Human Rights, and other international bodies, Tatoyan has provided additional information on the urgency of the return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan and protection of their rights and missing persons.

"Evidence gathered by the Human Rights Defender's Office confirms that the number of captives held in Azerbaijan is higher than the Azerbaijani authorities have confirmed," he said.

Tatoyan also noted on Monday that Azerbaijan is violating international principles, while the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh] continues.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel Armen Smbatyan has been charged.

Smbatyan has been charged under the Criminal Code articles on aiding and abetting abuse of office and on money laundering, as well as an AMD 20,000,000 bail has been as his pretrial measure.

The former minister of culture and youth affairs had been included as a defendant in the aforementioned criminal case and was declared wanted.

The investigation continues.

Armenia kicked off the COVID-19 vaccination campaign with the Russia-made Sputnik V drug on Monday.

The first to receive this vaccine will be the medical workers—between the ages of 18 and 54—who are treating COVID-19 patients.

Armenia has recently acquired AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines—with 24,000 and 15,000 batches, respectively.

Almost 200 people have already been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Armenia, the health ministry noted.

Armenia has 208,818 COVID-19 cases, while the death toll is 3,895.

The country is facing the third COVID-19 wave now.

The health ministry officials said that Armenian hospitals’ bed capacity for Covid is used up.

Leader of the opposition Homeland Party Artur Vanetsyan has renounced his lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan.

According to Vanetsyan, 'it's impossible to demand honor from a person who doesn’t even have honor.'

Vanetsyan was demanding to oblige the Prime Minister and his spokesperson to publicly refute the actual data that is slander. PM's spokesperson earlier noted that Artur Vanetsyan through the prima facie misuse of official powers and with the help of more fake shareholders obtained shares of Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine. Gevorgyan added that the company belonging to Vanetsyan’s father has also become a large transporter of the cargo of Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine.

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