Secretary General to PACE: any attempt to divert attention from the corruption report is intolerable
Strasbourg/25.04.18/Turan: Answering questions from members of the Parliamentary Assembly, Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland said he was very sad that at a time when he and the Committee of Ministers were struggling to gain the release of a prisoner in Azerbaijan (Ilgar Mammadov), in line with a judgment delivered by the European Court of Human Rights, their work was undermined by leaders from three political groups in PACE. In a further reference to the report into corruption allegations in PACE, Mr Jagland declared that any attempt to divert attention from the report was intolerable.
In response to several questions on the Russian Federation, Mr Jagland said that although he had, in common with many other leaders, congratulated President Putin on his election victory, he did not accept that voting should have taken place in Crimea, which had been illegally annexed by Russia.
Referring to Russia"s non-payment of its budget contributions, Mr Jagland pledged that if this unacceptable behaviour continued for a period of two years, due in mid-2019, he would take the necessary action before he finished his mandate, which expires shortly afterwards. He also underlined his opposition to the challenge posed to the authority of the European Court of Human Rights by the Russian Constitutional Court. If any member state used its constitution against the supremacy of the ECHR said Mr Jagland, then its membership was over. -0-
Politics
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The health condition of Afgan Sadigov, head of the Azerbaijani website Azel.Tv, who is on hunger strike in a pre-trial detention centre in Georgia, is deteriorating day by day. For a fortnight of hunger strike his weight has decreased from 91 kg to 76 kg, his wife Sevindzh Sadigova, who visited him in the pre-trial detention centre, told Turan.
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On October 3, a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took place in Paris. According to a statement from the French presidency, Macron reaffirmed France's commitment to supporting Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the Armenian people's aspiration for peace and democracy.
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Comments made by the head of the FSB of Russia, Alexander Bortnikov, claiming that the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia is engaged in intelligence activities against Russia and Iran, are "utter nonsense, lies, and manipulation typical of the Russian regime, which is trying to cover up its repeated failure to fulfill obligations to Armenia and promises made", Peter Stano, a representative of the European External Action Service, stated in response to Bortnikov's remarks in Astana during a meeting of security heads from CIS countries.
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Fazil Gasimov, an economist who has been on hunger strike for 113 days while in prison, has been suffering from 39 degrees body temperature since yesterday, his relatives told Turan on Friday following their visit to him at the medical facility of the penitentiary service. "Fazil could fall into a coma at any moment. He is just skin and bones. His immune system has weakened. Since yesterday, his temperature has not dropped below 39 degrees," said a family member.
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