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AZERBAIJAN WARNS AGAINST 'DIRECT INTERFERENCE' IN ITS JUSTICE SYSTEM BY FORCES WITHIN PACE
Gnomes, Spain
Dec 12 2014
PARIS, December 12, 2014 /NEWS.GNOM.ES/ -
Azerbaijan has cautioned fellow members of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) against using the pretext of human
rights to engage in "direct interference" in the Azerbaijan justice
system.
Elkhan Suleymanov, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE,
issued the warning after a meeting of the PACE Legal Affairs and
Human Rights Committee in Paris, Wednesday, at which an information
note covering Azerbaijan human rights was discussed.
That note, by the Rapporteur on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt, was critical
of Azerbaijan but it did state that the issue of so-called political
prisoners in Azerbaijan should be resolved in a legal context, and
that these prisoners should have recourse to the European Court of
Human Rights.
This, Suleymanov told the Committee, is something with which he agrees.
"I particularly stressed that the issue of political prisoners is a
legal issue and should be resolved on a legal context rather than a
political one," he said.
But he added that despite consensus on this point there remain forces
within PACE out to use this issue "in a deliberate and exaggerated way"
to politically pressure Azerbaijan. This is evident in just the title
of the information note: Azerbaijan's Chairmanship of the Council of
Europe: What follow-up on respect for human rights?
"Dear colleagues," he asked in response. "Did any of 600 PACE
members raise the issue of What follow-up on Armenia's occupation of
Azerbaijani territories? during Armenia's Chairmanship of Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers?"
Suleymanov warned PACE against making sweeping demands to release
from custody those who are midway through criminal cases being heard
by the Azerbaijani courts.
"Such kinds of demands call for the violation of a fair trial for
those persons and (amount to) direct interference with the course of
the investigation," he cautioned.
Azerbaijan feels aggrieved that it is continually attacked by
European politicians while Armenia turns its back on Europe (by
joining the Russian-sponsored Eurasian Customs Union), yet still
receives generous funding.
But of more concern to Suleymanov is that not only does Armenia escape
the kind of scrutiny that Azerbaijan is now enduring, it is allowed
to blithely ignore the international community year after year.
International bodies including the United Nations Security Council
and the Council of Europe have called for Armenia to withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories, but it steadfastly
refuses to do so.
http://news.gnom.es/pr/azerbaijan-warns-against-direct-interference-in-its-justice-system-by-forces-within-pace
Gnomes, Spain
Dec 12 2014
PARIS, December 12, 2014 /NEWS.GNOM.ES/ -
Azerbaijan has cautioned fellow members of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) against using the pretext of human
rights to engage in "direct interference" in the Azerbaijan justice
system.
Elkhan Suleymanov, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE,
issued the warning after a meeting of the PACE Legal Affairs and
Human Rights Committee in Paris, Wednesday, at which an information
note covering Azerbaijan human rights was discussed.
That note, by the Rapporteur on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt, was critical
of Azerbaijan but it did state that the issue of so-called political
prisoners in Azerbaijan should be resolved in a legal context, and
that these prisoners should have recourse to the European Court of
Human Rights.
This, Suleymanov told the Committee, is something with which he agrees.
"I particularly stressed that the issue of political prisoners is a
legal issue and should be resolved on a legal context rather than a
political one," he said.
But he added that despite consensus on this point there remain forces
within PACE out to use this issue "in a deliberate and exaggerated way"
to politically pressure Azerbaijan. This is evident in just the title
of the information note: Azerbaijan's Chairmanship of the Council of
Europe: What follow-up on respect for human rights?
"Dear colleagues," he asked in response. "Did any of 600 PACE
members raise the issue of What follow-up on Armenia's occupation of
Azerbaijani territories? during Armenia's Chairmanship of Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers?"
Suleymanov warned PACE against making sweeping demands to release
from custody those who are midway through criminal cases being heard
by the Azerbaijani courts.
"Such kinds of demands call for the violation of a fair trial for
those persons and (amount to) direct interference with the course of
the investigation," he cautioned.
Azerbaijan feels aggrieved that it is continually attacked by
European politicians while Armenia turns its back on Europe (by
joining the Russian-sponsored Eurasian Customs Union), yet still
receives generous funding.
But of more concern to Suleymanov is that not only does Armenia escape
the kind of scrutiny that Azerbaijan is now enduring, it is allowed
to blithely ignore the international community year after year.
International bodies including the United Nations Security Council
and the Council of Europe have called for Armenia to withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories, but it steadfastly
refuses to do so.
http://news.gnom.es/pr/azerbaijan-warns-against-direct-interference-in-its-justice-system-by-forces-within-pace