Azerbaijan is among the countries mentioned by PACE President Tiny Cox as having political prisoners. He called for their release.
On 30 October, on the occasion of the Day of Political Prisoner, Cox said: "On this day in 1974, political prisoners in the USSR went on a general hunger strike in protest against their detention.
In 2023, this day remains highly significant. Human rights defenders, civil society actors, political opponents, journalists, people of faith and many others committed to human rights, democracy and the rule of law are imprisoned and detained in Europe. This is simply unacceptable."
According to him, PACE condemns detentions on political grounds. "This year alone, I have repeatedly condemned the imprisonment of the winners of the Vaclav Havel Prize for Human Rights: Osman Kavala (Turkey), Vladimir Kara-Murza (Russian Federation), Maria Kolesnikova and Ales Bialiatski (Belarus). Our Rapporteurs General on political prisoners and human rights defenders called for the release of Alexei Navalny and others," further noted the head of PACE.
According to him, the Assembly also reminded the member states of their obligation to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, since too many decisions are not implemented. These judgements require precisely the release of persons detained on political grounds.
"It is unacceptable that Member States are not complying with the Court's judgements and infringement procedures, and with our Assembly resolution 2518 (2023) calling for the immediate release of Osman Kavala. I also recall our Assembly's strong condemnation of the situation of political prisoners in the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan in 2022 and 2020 respectively," Cox emphasised.
