Hearings on political prisoners in Azerbaijan were held within PACE session framework

Strasbourg/12.10.23/Turan: "The arrest of Gubad Ibadoglu and the situation of political prisoners in Azerbaijan", this was the theme of the "parallel event" held on October 11 in Strasbourg as a part of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The hearings were organized by the Azerbaijan Institute for Freedom and Security of Reporters (AIFSR) in cooperation with a number of Assembly deputies.

A Turan special correspondent reports from Strasbourg that during the discussions, Ibad Bayramov, son of the opposition politician Gubad Ibadoglu, told about the falsification of charges against his father, giving false testimony by witnesses brought by the investigation.

I. Bayramov emphasized the rapid deterioration of the health of the politician in the pre-trial detention center, the failure to provide him with effective medical care, the non-admission of representatives of international organizations and embassies of foreign states to visit him.

"Not only Gubad Ibadoglu, but also more than 200 other political prisoners have been arrested in Azerbaijan on false charges. These statistics are increasing, but there are no independent organizations in the country that could monitor the situation with political prisoners. These institutions have either been forced to leave the country, or their activities are prohibited. At present, representatives of a wide range of public groups are under arrest in the country because of their political views," Bayramov continued.

The participants of the discussions pointed out that Ibadoglu was arrested due to his political activities, anti-corruption investigations and criticism of the authorities.

Gerald Knaus, Director of the European Stability Initiative, noted that despite the expiration of 10 years after the preparation of the report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan by PACE deputy Christoph Strasser, this problem still persists in the country, politically motivated arrests continue.

According to him, the Charter of the Council of Europe requires sincere and effective cooperation between the member-states of the organization.

"But we still see how in a member-state of the Council of Europe the people are arrested on politically motivated trumped-up charges, critical voices are suppressed. The new Law On Media in Azerbaijan has further complicated discussions on this topic. And the new Law On Political Parties makes their free activity impossible," Knaus continued.

PACE deputies Peter Omzigt, Jeremy Corbyn and others called on the Council of Europe bodies to take more effective steps to solve the problem of political prisoners and generally improve the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

The need to reappoint the PACE rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan was noted.-16V-