PACE members and human rights defenders alarmed over increasing repressions in Azerbaijan

Participants in the hearings in Strasbourg as part of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) winter session have called on the Council of Europe to take tough steps to force Azeri authorities to stop repressing their critics.

The hearings were organized by the Azerbaijani Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in exile and Laura Castel, a Spanish Senator and a PACE member, a co-chair of the Unified European Left Group at the PACE. She has condemned the worsening human rights crisis in Azerbaijan, where there are more than 331 political prisoners. Also, Ms Castel criticized the introduction of a ban on entry into Azerbaijan for PACE members after in January 2024, the Assembly refused to ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation due to human rights violations.

Thorhildur Sunna Evarsdottir, an Icelandic MP, has criticized the Azerbaijani authorities for denying political motives for imprisonment of some individuals, and unfair trials.

"President Aliev has been in power for five terms; and no democratic changes will happen as long as the same regime remains," Emin Guseinov, a co-founder of the IRFS, has stated, adding that although Azerbaijan is a member of the Council of Europe, its authorities ignore decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and refuse paying compensations to victims.

Lise Kristoffersen, one of the PACE co-rapporteurs on monitoring Azerbaijan, has called for the PACE to consider restructuring the Council of Europe in order to create two categories of membership – those who comply with their commitments and those who don’t. In her opinion, this will increase attention to human rights problems in the second group of countries.

Guseinov, a human rights defender, has noted that the hearings were intended to support and increase attention to the alarming situation in Azerbaijan.