Top official: PACE co-rapporteurs prepare balanced report on Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 26 / Trend / Co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) highlighted the excellent level of cooperation with the Azerbaijan's authorities and with the parliamentary delegation to PACE following the visit to Azerbaijan in January-February, which once again confirms the openness and political will to such cooperation. Head of the Department on Work with Law-Enforcement Agencies of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Fuad Alasgarov said in an interview with Azerbaijani media outlets. He said the Monitoring Committee's meeting, held within the PACE spring session on April 23-24, discussed a report on the fulfillment of Azerbaijan's obligations before the Council of Europe. The report is expected to be approved at the next meeting of the committee. Within the visit to Azerbaijan, the co-rapporteurs met with representatives of state agencies, nongovernmental organizations and political parties. They also visited a settlement for refugees and IDPs and one of the prisons. "In their report, the co-rapporteurs stressed a number of achievements related to the development of democratic institutions. For example, they positively assessed the adoption of the National Action Program on Improvement of Human Rights and Freedoms Protection in Azerbaijan, approved by presidential order dated Dec.27, 2011. The co-rapporteurs' report stresses that the National Action Program envisages adoption of the Law "On ensuring rights of persons held in detention," measures directed at investigation of violations of the rights of these persons, the appropriate training for law enforcement officers and judges," Alasgarov said. He said the National Action Program is a conceptual, a large-scale document, which is part of serial measures undertaken for human rights protection in Azerbaijan. The program envisages both improving the legislative framework and specific measures aimed at ensuring more efficient protection of the rights of certain groups. He said the co-rapporteurs expressed their confidence that cases of other prisoners from the lists of NGOs should be resolved within the monitoring procedure based on the establishment of political dialogue. The co-rapporteurs noted that non-governmental organizations have not reached a consensus with respect to various lists of prisoners compiled by them, and that the lack of clear criteria or internationally accepted definition for these individuals also prevents achieving consensus on this issue. "In this connection, I should stress that the issue of criteria or its absence is directly related to the problem of the so-called "political prisoners" and the PACE rapporteur Christoph Strasser's activity on the issue," he added. "Azerbaijan has been consistently holding a position for many years that it is necessary to work out clear criteria to define the term "political prisoner" before preparing a report on any country. This criteria would be applicable to all CE member-countries, rather than one country. We think that any other approach is unacceptable because it would mean the existence of double standards in the Council of Europe's activity. This position is shared by many PACE members, experts in international law and representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations. Rapporteur Strasser's position, who seeks to prepare a report on Azerbaijan, is unreasonable and cannot cause doubt of his impartiality with respect to our country given the lack of an internationally accepted definition of the term "political prisoner." "In an information report, co-rapporteurs welcomed holding two rallies of the opposition groups, held in Baku on March 17 and April 8," he said. "The document stresses that the rallies were agreed with the executive power and passed without serious incident." "PACE information report stresses that at present, more than 4,700 different media outlets, including 40 daily and over 200 weekly or monthly newspapers and 50 news agencies, a large number of national, regional and cable TV channels, more than 30 Internet service providers operate in Azerbaijan without any pressure from the authorities," he said. "In their report the rapporteurs touched upon the incident connected with a video clip featuring journalist Khadija Ismayilova in Internet," he added. "They stressed that the authorities also condemned the incident and that the General Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal case on journalist's complaint." "The investigation is still underway," he said. "So, it is too early to draw final conclusions or opinions. Numerous witnesses have been questioned as part of the investigation. The apartment has been inspected. Material evidence, the individuals who lived or visited the apartment have been found. It has been reported about the place from where Ismayilova's letter was sent. Other investigative events have been conducted. However, I reiterate that the investigation is still underway. We should wait for the results." "The co-rapporteurs have prepared a balanced document that reflects the dynamics of development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan," he said. "We expect this attitude from the Council of Europe and all other international organizations," he added. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az