22:30, 28 October 2011

PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners fails rejected entry visa to Azerbaijan

Christopher Strasser, the PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners, had to cancel his planned visit to Azerbaijan, since he failed to get a visa.

"Mr Strasser planned to arrive in Azerbaijan next week. Despite the fact that the documents required for visa application had been submitted to the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Germany, we have not received an answer within the expected time period. For this reason, Mr Strasser had to cancel his visit," reported an employee of the Rapporteur's office.

In his turn, Elman Abdullaev, Spokesman of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated that Baku considered Christopher Strasser's visit to the country with the mandate of Rapporteur on political prisoners to be "unfair and unacceptable".

"The Council of Europe has no clear definition of 'political prisoner'," stated Elman Abdullaev. At the same time, according to him, Azerbaijan has no objection to "if Christopher Strasser visits Azerbaijan as an ordinary citizen or a Deputy of Bundestag".