Armenpress reports that NA Vice-President, the member of the Armenian delegation Ruben Rubinyan, announced to the PACE that the official blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh since April 23 manifests Azerbaijan's genocidal intent. 

Beginning his speech at the PACE Plenary session, Rubinyan emphasized: "We can and must at least try to prevent future atrocities. That way, we won't have to mention future atrocities in future sessions."

He announced at the PACE that Azerbaijan has blocked Nagorno-Karabakh completely since yesterday, illegally setting up a checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, which was supposed to connect Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.

"And now 120,000 people are being held hostage by a country that hates them. And this happens just one week after the statement of the President of Azerbaijan that the Armenians of Karabakh should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or find another place to live. And the fact that they officially started encircling Karabakh yesterday is a manifestation of Azerbaijan's genocidal intent," said the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

Rubinyan remembered that this was probably the 5th or 6th session in which he talked about the threats faced by the 120 thousand people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"And I'm not talking about political risks, the danger of their rights, I'm not talking about the risk of war, I'm talking about the risk of genocide. I hope we will be able to prevent this. And I hope all of us together can prevent ourselves from mentioning other atrocities here or elsewhere," concluded Rubinyan.