In Baku, PACE co-rapporteurs promise to facilitate release of political prisoners

In Baku, co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee for Azerbaijan have met oppositionists and activists who claimed the deteriorating situation with human rights in the country. Political analysts believe that the scandal surrounding the PACE may affect the objectivity of the co-rapporteurs in preparation of their report.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that prior to the PACE co-rapporteurs' visit, human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov and Ogtai Gyulyalyev doubted the effectiveness of their activities on Azerbaijan.

On June 12, Stefan Schennach and Cesar Florin Preda, the PACE co-rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, met the oppositionists.

According to Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan Party (PFPA), the co-rapporteurs discussed the pressure on Azerbaijani activists in Georgia, the kidnapping of journalist Afghan Mukhtarly, and the arrest of Gezyal Bairamly, the deputy chair of the PFPA.

Natiq Jafarli, Executive Secretary of the movement "ReAl", have pointed out the Azerbaijani authorities' failure to execute the decisions of the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Council of Europe (CE) Committee of Ministers in the case of Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the movement "ReAl".

The "caviar diplomacy" in PACE, removal of President Pedro Agramunt, creation of a special agency to investigate facts of corruption in the organization will all affect the report on Azerbaijan, believes political analyst Togrul Djuvarly, a member of the Azerbaijani National Public Committee for European Integration.

According to MP Fazil Mustafa (Gazanfaroglu), the leader of the "Great Creation" Party, the PACE co-rapporteurs do not always use information from objective sources.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.