PACE Monitoring Committee criticizes Azerbaijan

Fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly, are not secured in Azerbaijan. It is mentioned in the report published by Andreas Gross and Adres Herkel, rapporteurs for the PACE Committee on the Honoring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee). This report will be discussed at the October 5 session of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

The authors of the document point out that more and more journalists in Azerbaijan are subjected to self-censorship. The situation in this field has worsened. Courts regularly impose heavy fines on newspapers for insulting state officials and persons close to the authorities. Journalists are subjected to "mystic repressions", and the authorities are unable to find the guilty. The issue of creating the Public Television has not been settled yet.

The PACE appeals to the Azerbaijan authorities to release and pardon seven opposition leaders arrested in the aftermath of the 2003 presidential election and 33 people who have already been sentenced in connection with those developments. The problem of political prisoners remains unsettled. The authorities also must investigate all cases of torture and ill-treatment of convicts and punish the guilty. The official Baku also must find people guilty of rigging the presidential election, reads the report.

The right to freedom of assembly has been violated many times since the PACE January session. The persecution of the Juma religious community by the authorities gives rise to concern as well. The police evicted community members from the mosque of the same name, and the authorities appointed a new head of the community. Offices of some opposition parties were confiscated after October 15, 2003, and no normal substitute have been given.

Most of Azerbaijan political scientists consider this report rather tough, but at the same time do not expect the PACE to punish the Azerbaijan authorities during the forthcoming session. "They'll lay strictures and then give time for improvement again. In the upshot everything will remain as it is. This year isn't the first when the Azerbaijan authorities work with the PACE in such a way," political scientist Zardusht Alizade said.