Christopher Strasser Urged Azerbaijani Authorities to Comply with his Report

The need for a report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan is due to the fact that since 2005 the government of this country has not cooperated with the Council of Europe in this field. A special correspondent of Turan in Strasbourg reports Christopher Strasser, a PACE rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, said this during a press conference at the end of the PACE meeting Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Strasbourg June 26. A few hours earlier the Committee adopted his report. Strasser was satisfied with the support from colleagues and approval of the report. Strasser expressed regret that the authorities of Azerbaijan prevented him from visiting the country to familiarize himself with the situation. "On my application for a visit I received a response: ' We have no political prisoners,' said the speaker. He expressed the hope that now after the Committee's report the Azerbaijani authorities would fulfill the recommendations.

    Speaking about the importance of accepted papers.”  Strasser continued, "a question about the problem of human rights in a member country of the Council of Europe has become a real problem and it's sounding a message to the Parliamentary Assembly." When asked by Turan how many political prisoners there are in Azerbaijan, Strasser said that he knew the names of 89 men, and he sent the lists to the authorities. However, we are not a court and do not make specific decisions. We require solution to these cases on the basis of the definition of the "political prisoner" criteria in compliance with the freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, non-manipulation, provision of access to lawyers and others," said Strasser. 

    While welcoming the release of nine prisoners of conscience, Strasser called the Azerbaijani authorities to fully solve the problem of political prisoners and confirmed his willingness to visit Azerbaijan. " I'm ready to visit Azerbaijan, but in accordance with the rules of the Council of Europe, not as a tourist. If the Azerbaijani authorities want to achieve political progress, we must be prepared to cooperate," Strasser said. In the opinion of the speaker, he should have an opportunity to meet persons who are included in the lists of political prisoners. With regard to his report, he has 17 points, including compliance checks with the law for political prisoners and respect for transparency of judicial procedures. Strasser said that 4 points discussion were withdrawn from the report. He expressed regret that he was denied an item on the ban by the authorities on his arrival in Azerbaijan, and it was done at the insistence of the former head of the PACE Movlud Cavusoglu. Strasser said that PACE’s autumn session is to discuss, again, the situation of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. He thanked Azerbaijani human rights defenders and other civil society activists for facilitating the preparation of the report. 

    According to the criteria reflected in the study by Strasser, the concept of a "political prisoner" is subject to the following conditions: 1) if the detention was carried out directly in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees contained in the European Convention on Humanrights, particularly freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and association (where talking about the presentation of direct charges on these issues); 2) if the decision to detain was made purely on political reasons, without regard to any criminal offense; 3) If for political reasons, the duration of detention custody or the terms was explicitly proportional to the crime (i.e. if the person is in custody longer than is assumed by law); 4) If for political reasons, a person detained in a discriminatory based on comparison with others; 5) if the detention is the result of the proceedings, which were clearly unfair, and it seems to be associated with political motives of the authorities. - 06C -