Azerbaijani public asks to extend the mandate of PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners

On March 27, a group of oppositional politicians, human rights defenders, civil society experts and former political prisoners of Azerbaijan addressed Jean-Claude Mignon, the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) asking to extend the mandate of the PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The authors of the appeal state with regret that the mandate of Christoph Strasser, the former PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, a Bundestag Deputy, was stopped after his draft resolution "Tracking the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan" was not supported by the members of the PACE at its winter session on January 23, 2013.

Anar Mamedli, one of the authors of the appeal and the chairman of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training, said that the Azerbaijani authorities had obstructed Strasser from the very beginning, refused to give an entry visa to him and launched a campaign against him.

"On January 23, 2013, as a result of questionable lobbying activities of the Azerbaijani authorities, the draft resolution entitled "Tracking the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan" was rejected because of the negative vote of 125 PACE delegates, with 74 votes in its support," Mr Mamedli has reminded.

He stressed that the Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee, who were pretty well informed about the real situation in Azerbaijan, voted against the resolution.