Baku: rights defenders urge Brasseur to force Azerbaijani authorities to improve human rights situation

The PACE President Anne Brasseur has started her official visit to Azerbaijan with a meeting with civil society activists. At the meeting, the participants discussed the topics of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, the problem of political prisoners, and the obstacles to the development of civil society.

During the meeting, the activists have passed to Anne Brasseur a petition, calling on the PACE to take immediate steps in connection with the violation of human rights in Azerbaijan.

The Anne Brasseur's visit will take place on September 22-24, and its purpose is to discuss issues of cooperation between the Council of Europe (CoE) and Azerbaijan.

According to Natiq Djafarli, the Executive Secretary of the movement "ReAl", the activists got an impression that Anne Brasseur sincerely wanted the problems of the Azerbaijani civil society to be solved and the political prisoners to be released.

Lawyer Gyunai Ismailova has voiced sceptical opinion about the outcome of the discussions and noted that they failed to guarantee solutions. She has added that the PACE possesses mechanisms of sanctions against states that violate their commitments in the field of democracy, including the temporary suspension of the powers of national delegations or deprivation of their voices.

Samir Kazymly, the coordinator of the Alliance to Protect Political Freedoms, has expressed his hope that the PACE will follow the example of the European Parliament, give a principled assessment of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and require to remedy the situation and to release of political prisoners at first.