Christoph Strasser to Determine Political Prisoner

This evening at the PACE session in Strasbourg, Christoph Strasser, rapporteur on political prisoners will give his account on the definition of a "political prisoner", reports a Turan correspondent.

This 11 page document states that the concept of political prisoners was developed by independent experts in the framework of the 2001Council of Europe, at the request of Secretary General of PACE.  This was to assess cases of alleged political prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan. All the stakeholders, including the Committee of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly, have approved the General criteria put forward by the experts.

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights reiterates its support for these criteria, stating that people imprisoned for terrorism are not considered political prisoners.

The Assembly reaffirms its support for these criteria, summed up as follows:

"A person deprived of his or her personal liberty is to be regarded as a 'political prisoner':

a. if the detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocols (ECHR), in particular freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and association;

b. if the detention has been imposed for purely political reasons without connection to any offence;

c. if, for political motives, the length of the detention or its conditions are clearly out of proportion to the offence the person has been found guilty of or is suspected of;

d. if, for political motives, he or she is detained in a discriminatory manner as compared to other persons; or,

e. if the detention is the result of proceedings which were clearly unfair and this appears to be connected with political motives of the authorities." (SG/Inf(2001)34, paragraph 10)

Those deprived of their personal liberty for terrorist crimes shall not be considered political prisoners if they have been prosecuted and sentenced for such crimes according to national legislation and the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5).

The Assembly invites competent authorities of all member States of the Council of Europe to reassess the cases of any alleged political prisoners by application of the above-mentioned criteria and to release or retry any such prisoners as appropriate.

Next, Strasser gives interpretation of these provisions based on expert comments of and with reference to the European Convention and other international instruments.  These criteria are also accompanied by concrete examples of the European Court of Human Rights.

"I am fully convinced that the criteria of independent experts that have already been applied in hundreds of cases, while taking all the parties are legally sound, fair and expeditious. They reflect the basic norms of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights," said Strasser.

"It would be a grave mistake for PACE to abandon the baggage of existing definitions and engage in endless theoretical discussion. Such debates would be endless and fruitless.  Therefore, I urge the Assembly to confirm the existing definition of political prisoners," said the speaker.

* German MP Christoph Strasser was appointed rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan in March 2009, but in June 2010, this mandate was expanded to other countries. However, all these years, the Azerbaijani authorities have refused to accept Strasser, arguing that the term "political prisoner" is not formulated and is not expressed in international practice. -02D-