S.Kazymly: Rabiyat Aslanova herself committed "moral crime"

The fact that the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Rabiyat Aslanova, cannot distinguish between the activities of NGOs from business activities causes just a smile, this is how Samir Kazimly,  the  head the  Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC)  commented on the statements by Rabiyat  Aslanova  on June 30 at the meeting of the committee of the OSCE PA in the case of Anar Mammadov, the head of the EMDSC.  Thus, the Norwegian deputy Bekkevold proposed  at the committee meeting  amendment to the draft resolution calling for the release of Mammadov sentenced to 5.5 years in prison on charges of committing crimes. In response,  Aslanova told that  Mammadov  committed  specific criminal acts, in particular  illegal business.

Kazimly, in turn, said that it is not the first time when  Aslanova  says such unfounded things about political prisoners and "prisoners of conscience."  "Unfortunately Rabiyat Aslanova, as chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Human Rights, continues to say unreasonable things. It is a matter of conscience. To call innocent people arrested for political reasons criminals  is itself  a moral crime," said Kazimly.  He called insolvent Aslanova’s  statements  that the  Norwegian deputy used unverified information from opposition sources. Kazimly reminded  that representatives of international organizations and diplomatic corps watched the trial  in the case of Mammadov and have the information from the first  source.

"If the chairman of the parliament's committee for  human rights would be such a desire, she could take part in the trial and would have an objective view on this matter," said Kazimly.

He noted that Anar Mammadov repeatedly claimed about  fraud and unjustified charges against him and  it was proved at the trial.

"A number of democratic states, local and international human rights organizations have declared the innocence of Anar Mammadov. Everyone knows that the real reasons for  arrests  of  Anar Mammadov  and Bashir Suleymanli was  the organization and  conducting  the  election monitoring  and dissemination of the report.

As for the charges of illegal business, Mammadov himself  told that he had  never  been involved in legal nor illegal business," said Kazimly.

In his view, the best answer  for Aslanova  became the fact  that people voted for the amendment, and it was adopted. -03D06 –