Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), are to make a fact-finding visit to the country from 12 to 14 January 2017.
In Baku, Mr Schennach and Mr Preda are due to meet, subject to confirmation, with the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers of Justice and Internal Affairs, the Head of the Presidential Administration, the President of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the Chairperson of the Bar Association as well as members of Parliament including the Azerbaijan delegation to PACE.
They are also due to meet representatives of civil society and of extra-parliamentary opposition parties, as well as the international community.
Azerbaijan is one of the nine Council of Europe Member States currently subject to the Assembly’s monitoring procedure, which involves ongoing dialogue with the authorities, regular reports and occasional debates on a state’s progress in honoring its obligations and commitments to the Organization.
The rapporteurs’ visit to Baku is carried out against the background of the publication by the international NGO European Stability Initiative - ESI of a report on Caviar Diplomacy-2, which contains the facts of bribery by some members of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, and members of the Assembly. Official Baku has not commented on these allegations. -06D-
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