The Monitoring Committee deplores that more than 20 years after joining the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled major commitments stemming from its membership in the Organisation. Speaking at the PACE plenary session, Mogens Jensen, a member of the Norwegian Parliament's delegation to the PACE, rapporteur on Azerbaijan, stated this.
"Very serious concerns remain as to its ability to conduct free and fair elections, the separation of powers, the weakness of its legislature vis-à-vis the executive, the independence of the judiciary and respect for human rights, as illustrated by numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and opinions of the Venice Commission. As of 1 December 2023 there were 254 “political prisoners” in Azerbaijan. The problem of prosecuting government critics has not been resolved, despite the adopted resolutions.
There are reports of egregious cases of torture and torture from Azerbaijan, especially in relation to the so-called Tartar case.
The persecution of media and journalists is also of great concern.
My colleague Schwabe also emphasized the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, which is referred to in the PACE resolutions.
Reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan”, the Assembly is also concerned that rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee were not allowed to meet with persons detained on allegedly politically motivated charges.
Moreover, the Assembly strongly regrets that it has not been invited to observe the forthcoming presidential election despite Azerbaijan’s obligation to send such an invitation as the country is under monitoring procedure.
Furthermore, it condemns the Azerbaijani delegation’s lack of cooperation with the rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on “Threats to life and safety of journalists and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan”, who has been refused to visit the country three times. It also deeply deplores that the rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons on “Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin corridor” was not invited to Azerbaijan during his fact-finding visit to the region and was thus unable to travel to the Lachin Corridor," Jensen stated.
