Human rights activists do not trust Agramunt

"Taking into account the eriousness of the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, I welcome the appointment of rapporteur on this issue,"  said in an interview with Turan Arzu Abdullayeva,  co-chairman of the Helsinki Citizens 'Assembly and head of the National Committee of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.  This is how  she commented on the decision to  assign a Spanish deputy Pedro Agramunt to  prepare a report on the problem in Azerbaijan political prisoners.

Abdullayeva noted that in 2009 she  was against the decision  to appointment of the rapporteur on political prisoners German deputy, Christoph Strasser.

"Then a the PACE rapporteur on Azerbaijan was Estonian MP Andres Herkel. He conducted a serious job and raised in PACE all the problems associated with the violation of human rights in Azerbaijan.

Following the appointment of Strasser,  Herkel withdrew from political prisoners, and Strasser  did not come to Azerbaijan," continued Abdullayeva.

  Today the situation is so that  we need  the rapporteur on political prisoners.

"The appointment under the current situation a rapporteur on political prisoners  meets the realities of Azerbaijan," said Abdullayeva. However,  she  criticized Agramunt’s candidacy for such a task.

"This man can not cope with the responsibilities of the Rapporteur on common issues, how will he do some other work?" said Abdullayeva.

Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus, also considers wrong  the preparation of the  report on political prisoners by  the Rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee.

"We have repeatedly appealed to PACE to appoint a special rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, so the current version of the solution does not satisfy us,"  said Yunus.

On the other hand,  it is doubtful  that Agramunt will prepare an objective report. "Loyalty of this man to the  Azerbaijani government, and its activities as a whole raises more questions",  stressed Yunus.-05B06-