Armenian MP raises issue of POWs at PACE 

ArmInfo.The Member of the RA NA delegation to PACE Vladimir Vardanyan gave a speech at PACE Summer  Session. The MP, particularly, noted in his speech:

"Thank you, Mister Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen, being a prisoner of war is not a punishment.  This is just a military measure to prevent further participation in  hostilities, to not allow a person to come back to the battlefield.

What we are facing now, unfortunately, we are equalising the status  of a prisoner of war with the status of a criminal. We are equalising  the status of prisoner of war camps with the status of penitentiary  institutions.  And unfortunately, prisoners of war have become more  and more subject to intimidation and torture.

This totally undermines the very logic of the Geneva Convention,  which undermines the very logic of international humanitarian law,  where the only option to keep a person in captivity as a prisoner of  war is not to allow him or her to take part in further hostilities.

And, when we are speaking about prisoners of war, when we're speaking  about exchange, we shouldn't forget that all the prisoners of war  should be repatriated after the end of hostilities, because the undue  delay of the repatriation of prisoners of war after the end of  hostilities is a crime under international law.

But furthermore, what is even more important, the Geneva Convention  speaks very loudly about the categories of prisoners of war who  should be repatriated even during the hostilities. These are those  who are amputees, who are mentally ill, who have very serious mental  health issues. This category should be released even during the  hostilities.

Ladies and gentlemen, we actually use this report as a reminder that  international humanitarian law is still acting. And I would like to  once again remind all autocratic leaders that international criminal  law, crimes against humanity and war crimes have no statutes of  limitations.