PACE Appoints Rapporteur on Political Prisoners

Baku/26.06.18/Turan: The Council of Europe (CoE) appointed a rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The decision was taken by the Council of Europe's Committee on Law and Human Rights.

On June 25, Icelandic deputy Thorhildur Sunna Aevarsdottir was elected chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee on Law and Human Rights. She was also appointed as a rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Aevarsdottir should prepare a report entitled "Political prisoners in Azerbaijan".

Two months ago, 24 deputies, including Deputy Peter Omtsitt, were offered to prepare a report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan and appoint a new rapporteur.

The deputies stressed that in 2013 PACE rejected the report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan prepared by the German deputy Christoph Strasser.

They refer to the corruption recently discovered in the walls of the PACE, which was discovered by the Independent Investigative Group of the PACE, which gives grounds to believe that some past and present deputies played an important role in not accepting this report. The deputies noted the work of some people, saying that the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is real.

"Therefore, it is appropriate to write a new report on the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan," the appeal says.

The Bureau supported this initiative.

The Council of Europe published two months ago the results of an investigation of corruption, which lasted more than 10 months. At the same time, the report stated that several members of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) violated ethics in their contacts with Azerbaijan.

The 219-page report published on April 22 states that Azerbaijan put pressure on the meeting to minimize criticism of its election campaign and human rights violations.

"The investigating body found that there are serious doubts that some current and former PACE members are involved in corruption," the document stressed.

Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov rejected this resolution and said the goal of "hatred for Azerbaijan" is to create a "gap" between Baku and the Council of Europe.

Subsequently, with respect to him, the Council of Europe decided that he cannot occupy high-ranking positions in the PACE and be a rapporteur.

Local human rights activists say there are about 140 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijani officials do not agree that they are political prisoners. The authorities claim that political prisoners were brought to justice for their unlawful actions.