Leaders of Germany Not to Attend Opening of European Games

The German newspaper Tagesspiegel, citing its sources reported that top officials of Germany and members of the government will not go to the opening ceremony of the European Games in Baku, which will be held on June 12.

"Chancellor Angela Merkel will not travel to Baku. In addition, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who oversees the sport, also refused to travel to the capital of Azerbaijan. German President Joachim Gauck will be in Berlin on June 12," the newspaper said.

As the reason for the trip cancellation, the author Claudia von Zalzen calls the presence of more than 100 political prisoners - opposition activists, journalists and human rights defenders – in Azerbaijan.

In recent months, the regime intensified repression. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders said that they are "mercilessly persecuted and punished" in Azerbaijan.

During the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Berlin in February, Merkel said that she has "differences" with President Ilham Aliyev on the "realization of human rights."

Berlin has not sounded official explanation as to why no member of the government will go to the opening of the European Games.

As a rule, events of such a level are visited by the Chancellor, the Minister of the Interior or the President. Last year, Merkel did not visit the Winter Games in Sochi, because of Russia's policy towards Ukraine, but Interior Minister Maiziere went there, wrote Tasspiegel.

Another influential German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that German athletes called for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Thus, they supported the call of the European Commissioner Nils Muzhnieks, OSCE Special Representative Dunja Mijatovic and the UN special rapporteur Michel Forst.

In the article by Christoph Becker it is said that Christian Schreiber - a representative of the German Olympic Confederation (DOSB) told the newspaper about the need to respect fundamental human rights and the right to criticism.

"We join the UN envoy calls on all countries to respect these rights," he stressed.

Michael Vesper, chairman of the DOSB, also welcomed the call of the Rapporteur.

"Of course, we stand in solidarity with people who are dealing with this problem in Azerbaijan, and, referring to the official Baku, confirm that the German Olympic Confederation is in favor of human rights and freedom of the press," he said. -02D-