Azerbaijan refused to cooperate with another structure of Council of Europe

Azerbaijan refused to cooperate with the Council of Europe Committee for Prevention of Torture.  The structure regarded this as a violation by Azerbaijan of the European Convention for Prevention of Torture. The Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) has released a public statement on Azerbaijan today.

This statement of the Council of Europe's Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT).has been adopted pursuant to Article 10 (2) of the European Convention for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The reason for this exceptional decision to make a public statement is the direct refusal of the Azerbaijani authorities to cooperate with the CPT.

“The Committee has made sincere attempts to enter into a constructive dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities to resolve issues that underlie the meaning of the existence of the European Convention against Torture. In its reports the CPT detailed that it continues to receive allegations of ill-treatment and even torture by police officers. This notwithstanding, the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan has not taken any actions to implement the long-standing recommendations of the Committee to stop such practices," the press service of the Council of Europe said in a statement.

Besides, the Committee has not received responses to letters from its President requesting that the dialogue be facilitated through high-level talks in Baku. "Even more worrying is the information received by the CPT that the integrity and safety of members of the visiting Committee delegation may be at risk. This represents a fundamental and unprecedented violation of the Convention,” the Council of Europe said in a press release.

Given the "seriousness of the issues related to ill-treatment and even torture by law enforcement officials against detainees," the CPT also decided to publish a report on a special visit to Azerbaijan in 2022 as an appendix to a public statement. The 38-page CPT report stated that the delegation of the structure "again received numerous "allegations of ill-treatment/torture of detainees" in order to obtain confessions from them. The types of alleged ill-treatment/torture, according to the report, mainly included slaps, punches and kicks, as well as blows with batons or wooden sticks.

The Delegation also received several allegations of baton strikes on the soles of the feet. In addition, the delegation received reports of threats of rape with bottles and the use of tasers. Threats of reprisals against relatives of detained persons, including through criminal prosecution, were also reported.

Add that physical abuse was usually accompanied by verbal abuse. At the same time, the CPT hopes that the lack of cooperation will not lead to a permanent rupture of relations with the Azerbaijani authorities. The CPT is ready to support the authorities in taking decisive steps to protect the fundamental values to which Azerbaijan, as a member state of the Council of Europe, has subscribed.

Within the framework of fulfilling its mandate, the Committee is fully committed to continuing dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities, the CE press release further says. Earlier, Azerbaijan refused to invite a PACE delegation to observe the early Presidential elections of 2024. This led to the suspension of the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE for a period of 1 year. However, before the vote on this issue, the Azerbaijani delegation stated that it was leaving the PACE session itself.