19:54, 16 May 2018

PACE imposes sanctions on the head of Azerbaijani delegation

Samed Seyidov. Photo © Sputnik / Murad Orujov

Samed Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is among the four members of the Assembly, whose powers are limited by the results of the corruption investigation conducted with the PACE.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that investigators came to the conclusion that European politicians and officials had lobbied Azerbaijant interests for bribes. The official Baku has treated the investigators' report as biased and compiled with the aim of blackmailing.

On December 17, 2016, the website of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) published a report on the inquiry entitled "Caviar Diplomacy-2" into the practice of bribing PACE MPs by Azerbaijani politicians to lobby the decisions beneficial for Baku.

The PACE committee has concluded that four MPs had "seriously violated" the MPs' Code of Conduct, the PACE press service reports.

The decision to punish the four MPs will contribute to the improvement of the atmosphere within the PACE, said Anar Mamedli, the head of the Centre for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Education.

The MP Samed Seyidov has disagreed with the sanctions imposed on him. He treats the decision as a manifestation of double standards in relation to Azerbaijan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent