F. Schwabe criticized the Azerbaijani authorities' ban on the entry of a group of PACE deputies into the country.

The head of the German delegation to the PACE Frank Schwabe has criticized the decision of official Baku to ban entry to the country for members of this structure who voted in favor of limiting the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation.

In democratic countries, entry bans are imposed only on extremists and violent criminals, he wrote in social network X.

Earlier, head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Ayhan Hajizadeh said that the deputies who voted against the Azerbaijani PACE delegation were declared persona non grata in Azerbaijan. Until the mandate of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE is restored, they will not be allowed to enter the territory of Azerbaijan.

Hajizade reacted to Schwabe's statement in an interview with Radio Liberty that Azerbaijan is not interested in membership in the Council of Europe because the country ‘does not respect the values’ of the organisation. Schwabe also pointed to the fact that Azerbaijan again failed to invite PACE observers to the Milli Majlis elections.

At the same time, Schwabe expressed his intention to come to Azerbaijan for COP29.

Hajizadeh called Schwabe's statements ‘biased’ and ‘false’.

On 24 January this year PACE did not approve the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation for 1 year due to the country's ‘failure to fulfill its basic obligations’ to the Council of Europe, as well as the failure to invite the Assembly observers to the extraordinary Presidential elections.

Note that seventy-six MPs voted in favor of the decision, with 10 against and 4 abstentions.