A scandal broke out in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan: Swiss politician, a member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Evangelical People's Party, Nick Gugger was expelled from the country. Foreign Minister of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis was informed about the incident.
Gugger came to Azerbaijan as an official and accredited as an OSCE/ODIHR short-term observer from Switzerland for presidential elections in Azerbaijan. His mission was to monitor the upcoming presidential election on the ground and report on human rights violations. He participated in similar missions in Russia and Moldova, Swiss media reports.
As soon as he landed in Baku, the police stopped Gugger at the diplomatic entrance, confiscated his passport and denied him entry. Other OSCE observers, including the Swiss delegation, were allowed to pass without problems. The police kept the politician at the Baku airport for almost three hours, served him tea, and then put him on a plane flying to Istanbul. Gugger received the passport only in Turkey, and from there he left for Zurich.
The media assume that the incident may be related to his work at the Council of Europe. Last week, Baku announced that it would not accept observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Since Gugger, apart from the OSCE, is also an observer of the Council of Europe elections, he could be blacklisted.
It is possible that Gugger came to the attention of the Azerbaijani authorities due to his political connection to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Blick media reports.
The newspaper reminded that last September, Azerbaijan carried out military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, after which more than 100 thousand Armenians were forcibly displaced from there.
Gugger publicly protested against the violence against Armenians, and also sent his criticism to the ambassador of Azerbaijan.
